DBGZ
by MaxXUnlimited
Summary: Relics and warriors from the ancient universe threaten to destroy everything. Can our heroes rise up and stop them? Takes place shortly after Baby's defeat. Primarily follows Trunks/Goten/Bra
1. The Daily Ritual

I've taken a couple liberties with the timeline (nothing major I think), having Bra be ~6 years younger than Trunks, and having the time span between the end of the Buu Saga and the end of the Baby Saga ~15 years.

For the sake of a more interesting story, I'm assuming Goten and Trunk can go SS2 and Vegeta can go SS3 as they have been training at least mildly intensively over the 15 years since the Buu Saga.

Goku was reverted back to an adult with the Dragon Balls.

The story will focus mostly on Trunks and Goten

**Chapter 1 – The Daily Ritual**

Two half-saiyans, one with dark volumous raven hair, the other with clean cut and thin white-lavender, were situated on opposite ends of a large forest clearing. The Raven haired half Saiyan stared down his best friend-turned-temporary-opponent, his dark eyes focusing intensely on the Saiyan Prince's movements looking for any pretense on the princes part to attack, or any possible opening he himself could exploit. His concentration was absolute at this moment, something that had been hard for him to do lately. He slowly opened his fists then clasped then shut again, ensuring they were ready for what was about to follow. The two had finished their warm-up and were ready to go all out.

His opponent, the light lavender haired half-Saiyan prince, Trunks, returned his friend's intense stare, mentally ensuring he had correctly followed his father's 30 something step checklist about engaging a worthy opponent.

This scene was not at all uncommon between these two; in fact it'd become something of a near daily ritual. Come rain, snow or storm, they'd make their way to this clearing, or another like it, in the late afternoons, ready to engage in the nearly 20 year old rivalry aspect of their friendship-rivalry duality.

Trunks had noticed his friend had begun to slip the last few weeks. That's not to say Goten made for an easy opponent; quite the contrary. At their maximums, Trunks knew he only _just_ nudged out his best friend in skill and power. But rather, Goten's concentration and skill seemed to falter at key moments, allowing Trunks to easily get the upper hand. Granted Goten usually didn't take training as seriously as Trunks, and usually trained more for fun and relaxation then to develop strength and skill like Trunks and his father; but most of Goten's lapses had occurred while fighting. That was an area Goten and his father Goku were usually just as serious and focused as Trunks and Vegeta. Trunks knew Goten and Valese were having problems, but Goten's fighting had never been affected by a girl before. Maybe things were a lot more serious with Goten and Valese then Trunks thought. Goten wouldn't talk about it of course, and had met Trunks' questions with an insistence that everything was fine. If Goten didn't want to talk about it, there wasn't a whole lot Trunks could do about that. When they were little, Trunks could have pummeled or tickled Goten into surrendering his secrets, but that didn't work so well anymore. All Trunks seemed to be able to do now was let Goten know he was there if Goten did "decide" something was wrong.

That's why Trunks had found today's match unusually exhilarating so far. Goten's focus, timing and skill seemed back to their old levels, and it was giving Trunks quite a large amount of difficulty. He wasn't sure what had gotten into Goten today, but he was glad for it, and would be sure to probe for the answer later. For now though, he was just determined to fight this fight to its fullest.

Trunks twitched slightly amidst his thoughts, his right hand pulling up slightly.

"_Gotcha!"_ Goten thought, a smirk on his face as he rushed the few feet across the clearing, pushing the grass and tree branches behind him back from the force of his forward rush. Goten had noticed that slight fidget and knew that for the briefest instant, Trunks' right side was vulnerable. He pulled back his right arm across his chest, fist clenched tightly. Trunks raised his right arm in defense, but was not able to readjust his ki quickly enough. When Goten swept his arm forward, it collided hard with Trunks deficient defense, easily toppling Trunks from where he stood his ground and launching him into the tree line.

Trunks quickly pulled his arms and legs in tightly towards his body in an attempt to reduce the number of trees his body tore through. He felt the trees buckle and break beneath him before he flared his ki enough to bring himself to a near stop. As he did so he saw an opportunity. He allowed himself to drift into a massive nearby tree. He braced his feet firmly against it's trunk before flaring his ki further and launching himself forward. The bark and parts of the tree beneath his feet practically disintegrated in a hail of debris as he rushed away from it. It was easy to rush his way back to the clearing, his body had cut a pretty noticeable swathe of destruction in the forest. He smirked slightly, happy that Goten had actually got the jump on him there. It meant Goten really did have his finesse back. As the clearing came back into view, he saw Goten was ready for him. Trunks was unsure if he had the momentum to knock Goten over at this speed, but decided he'd give it a try. He raised his arms defensively, forearms crossed in front of his face just before be reached Goten. Goten seemed to have decided to try and stand his ground rather than try and dodge the rapidly incoming Trunks; he had braced himself firmly in the ground, hands raised to meet Trunks.

Trunks slammed into Goten, sending a powerful shockwave emanating from the spot. The shockwave rapidly spread out, disturbing the forest in every direction and only aggravating the already rapidly growing faults in the ground beneath Goten's feet. Goten had met the attack well, having only been staggered back slightly. However the ground beneath his feet was rapidly failing beneath the enormous force needed to keep back Trunks. The two were staring at each other intently between their locked arms and hands, their Auras battling each other and refusing to give up and inch just like the two of them. The fissures beneath Goten's feet and Trunk's aura were rapidly increasing in size and number and Trunks could feel Goten about to slip once his footing failed him. Trunks flared his ki out slightly stronger, but the added force was enough to cause Goten's footing to fail. As Goten attempted to readjust to the lack of ground beneath his feet, Trunks quickly pulled back from Goten, removing all the resistance to Goten's forward push. Though Goten quickly recovered from the rapid changes in his position, momentum and velocity, it was not quick enough to brace himself for Trunk's attack. Trunks had pulled back from Goten and rapidly extended both feet forward with an upward angle. His feet struck the unprepared Goten's chest and had launched him skyward. Trunks rushed after Goten, streaking blindingly fast out of the clearing and towards Goten's tumbling body. He pulled back a fist, ready to strike Goten, but just as he reached Goten, Goten seemed to just vanish, and Trunks' fist careened through nothing but a faint remnant of the Saiyan who'd formerly occupied the space. This sort of quick speed burst was common, and Trunks braced his body, expecting a strike from Goten to come a second later, but it didn't. Trunks realized he actually couldn't sense Goten's energy. That didn't seem right though. Sure Goten was fast, but fast enough to pretty much instantly move out of Trunk's detection range? That didn't seem right. Trunks looked to the forest and clearing below, his sensitive Saiyan eyes piercing deep into the underbrush, but not finding Goten. As he continued his search, he felt a sudden spike in energy behind him. Trunks spun around quickly, raising his hands to engage Goten, only to see that Goten had his hands back, clasped around a swirling mass of blue energy. Trunks did a double take, trying to back away from Goten as Goten began the final stage of his attack.

"HAAAAAA!" Goten roared, pushing his hands forward, and unleashing the swirling pool of energy. As it left his hands it burst forward into a massive wave, radiating intense blue light and energy that set the surrounding air, land and water alight.

Trunks cringed as he rapidly attempted to bring his hands up to mount some sort of defense, knowing it was too late to try and avoid the attack. Regardless of what he did, he knew this one was going to hurt. The front of the Kamehameha wave slammed into trunks, briefly inflecting and slowing as it battled against his aura and ki. Trunks felt the heat and energy of the wave as his attempt at defense rapidly crumbled and the wave enveloped him. He let out a slight cry of pain between clenched teeth. He was desperately trying to keep his body rigid and braced against the attack like his father had taught him. But it was incredibly difficult. Although Goten had only unleashed the wave for several seconds, it had felt like a much longer time for Trunks. When Goten finally did end the wave, dropping his hands to his sides, the two were both clearly winded; Trunks had definitely gotten the worst of it, the tips of his hair and clothes slightly scorched and blackened, and his breathing more labored and deep then Goten.

"Heh, nice one Goten.." he managed to spit out. Though he was rapidly catching his breath, it was still a slight struggle to breathe.

Goten grinned his usual goofy grin (the grin being something of a Son trademark, given his father and brother often mirrored that expression).

"I thought you might like that one." He said coyly.

"How did you get away from me so fast?"

"Maybe you're just getting a little slow in your old age Trunks." Goten jested, his breathing having slowed to almost normal levels.

"Yea yea." Trunks said dismissively, brushing back a few strans of hair that had become loose and rolling his eyes. "Seriously though."

"Well you're not the only person who trains with their dad." Goten said, a mischievous glint in his eye.

"Instant Transmission." Trunks sighed, half annoyed and half impressed as he crossed his arms. "I shoulda known. You know that won't work on me again though, right Goten?" Trunks asked, moving back into his fighting form.

Goten's grin grew slightly, narrowing his eyes as he moved back into an attack stance as well. "Well, let's see Trunks."


	2. Bra

**Chapter 2 - Bra**

Bra fidgeted in her chair again, glaring at the sheets haphazardly strung across her desk.

"_This is infuriating.." _she thought, letting out a half growl, half sigh. She couldn't focus. On anything; much less math. She closed her eyes as she rubbed her forehead with her right hand, her thumb and middle finger running through her finely kept aquamarine eyebrows. Math had never bothered her before; in fact she usually found it quite easy. But it'd been different lately. And it wasn't just math. She had much less patience lately for her brother's antics, her mother's meddling, and her father's relative indifference. Even her friends were getting on her nerves much more frequently lately. She just always felt on edge, ready to jump into a fight at a moment's notice. Sure she wasn't quite the fighter her father or brother were, but that didn't stop them from fearing one of her tantrums, or change the fact that she was pretty much the strongest teenage girl on the planet.

She'd had an inkling why she felt so distracted and angry lately, but the very thought seemed so surreal, so outlandish she'd always dismissed it before. And yet, there it was again. At this moment she wanted nothing more than to be outside watching Goten spar with her brother, his rippling and finely toned body flexing and bending as it engaged in superhuman feats of strength and agility.

"Stop!" She found herself yelling aloud in her empty room, the sound of her own voice snapping her out of the thought. It seemed like there was some sort of deeply internal struggle within her over this and that was the source of her agitation and anxiousness. She shook her head, shaking aside the remnants of her previous thought and pulling herself back into reality. She looked around her room. Normally the dark cool purples and blues, the enormous bed, the finely crafted antique furniture would help put her at ease, but it wasn't working this time. She frowned before running her tongue along her perfectly straight and white teeth. With the exception of a slight chip on one of the teeth in the back of her mouth (a training accident when she was little) she had perfect teeth. She squinted her eyes, staring back to the pages on her large and finely crafted desk. She grudgingly picked up the pencil from the desk, putting it to a blank sheet of paper. She held it there for a moment, her hand shaking slightly.

"Come on Trunks, give me a break!" She heard Goten's voice from outside her window, a sign that they had almost concluded their practicing for the day. She tensed slightly at his voice, but that tension was ample enough to cause the pencil to snap under her grip.

"_Fuck… what is wrong with me!"_ she berated herself. She couldn't believe Goten was getting to her like this; she wouldn't believe it.

"No way Goten. You still owe me half an hour from Monday, and from that "teleportation" crap you pulled earlier." Trunks said accusingly.

"Yea, but.." Goten began, but was interrupted by a low, powerful rumble. His stomach. She heard her brother laugh, and found herself giggling slightly as well. She threw the remnants of her pencil onto her desk, conveying her decision of "screw this homework". She quickly moved to the window, looking into the vast yard below. Goten and Trunks were fairly close to the Capsule Corp. living quarters door, and were standing a few feet apart.

"Geez Goten, get that thing under control before it hurts someone." Trunks said, shaking his head disapprovingly, but a slight smirk evident on his face.

Goten instinctively moved a hand to the back of his head, scratching it slightly. He had his usual grin on.

"Sorry Trunks… you know I can't control it."

Bra noticed that he wasn't wearing his usual orange and blue gi today, but instead had a black tank top and shorts. His tank top was tattered and drenched in sweat, causing it to cling tightly to his well-formed upper body. She shook her head realizing she was staring.

Trunks sighed, with just the slightest hint of irritation in his voice as he realized training was, in fact, over for the day. "yea yea…"

"What are you two numbskulls doing?" Bra asked, casting her voice to them from her window, and letting them know she was watching.

"Oh, hey B-Chan!" Goten said happily, grinning to her with a slight nod. She smiled back. She found herself both annoyed and happy with that nickname at the moment. She liked the nickname to be sure, but it only reinforced the idea in her mind that Goten saw her like a little sister. That was sort of the way their relationship had always been, and up until recently, she thought that's how it always would be.

Trunks dismissed the insult of her question with a wave of his hand before replying. "Well we SHOULD be training some more, but Mr. Slacker here" Trunks squinted slightly, raising an accusing hand, index finger extended towards Goten. "seems to think we're done."

Goten waved his hands in front of himself defensively. "Come on Trunks. We've been fighting for like 3 hours already today."

Bra giggled slightly as she watched him try to get out of her brother's demands.

"2 hours and 48 minutes." Trunks replied with some annoyance, checking the time on his watch. Trunks was always a stickler for details.

"Isn't that enough?" Goten asked, probingly. Though he could already guess the answer Trunks would give.

"No."

"Come on Trunks, give him a little slack." Bra interrupted. "You're becoming more and more like Dad all the time."

Trunks' mouth went slightly ajar as he glared up at his sister. As much as Trunks respected (and feared) his father, he really wasn't too fond of the idea of becoming exactly like him.

".. Fine. Fine. You need to shower anyways Dude, you smell." Trunks took a last jab at Goten before walking towards the capsule corp entrance.

"Yea like you're one to talk, dirtbag. They can probably smell you all the way over in West City." Goten responded, playfully shoving Trunks. As he came closer to the Capsule Corp. entrance, Goten mouthed "Thank You" To Bra, looking up to her from the ground and smiling broadly. She returned the smile and nodded.

Once Goten was out of her sight, she found herself smirking in a somewhat Vegeta-esque manner at having successfully manipulated trunks. Manipulating Trunks was one of Bra's favorite past times; unlike most things, it presented some sort of challenge to the Saiyan Princess. Trunks would frequently dismiss her demands or just straight up say no. Manipulating her father on the other hand, was just too easy. He seemed wholly incapable of saying no to her, and offered very little in way of challenge to act on her every whim. That's not to say Vegeta _never_ said no to her, but he always seemed befuddled and uncertain on the correct approach to raising her (an uncertainty that was painfully absent with regards to Trunks), so he usually simply went along with what she said. He seemed to regard any misbehavior on her part to be his fault, and he had to fix it; after all, to him she was his perfect little princess.

Most boys she knew her age were only too happy to oblige her most of the time. Though she knew the reason why they did was some pathetic attempt to impress her and catch her attention. Yea, like being spineless would really impress her. Girls her age would also generally bow to her whims, hoping to get a hint of the wealth and popularity she enjoyed. She honestly found ordering people around like they were her puppets pretty amusing; she'd have felt guilty if they didn't make it so easy.

Her mother often chastised her for playing people like that, but she was too busy between running the research division at Capsule Corp., researching some "great new way" Vegeta planned to "finally" surpass Goku, and fixing everything Trunks and Vegeta were constantly breaking to really intervene. Bra didn't really mind the fact that her mother was often busy. In fact she liked the privacy it afforded her. She even admired everything her mother had accomplished in spite of being "just human." Bra knew her mother loved her as much as any mother should, and that was usually enough for her. It did annoy her when her mother would occasionally try to jump into her life though, but those attempts were usually cut short by Bra's resistance.

* * *

><p>Bra was sitting at the dinner table, playing with her fork as she waited impatiently for dinner to be ready. She slid herself down in her chair slightly. She knew her father would bark at her about proper posture when he saw her like that, but she didn't particularly care right now. As she slid forward, a strand of her deep aquamarine hair loosened and fell over her face. She frowned at it and made to tuck it back behind her ear, but instead found herself playing with it.<p>

"… _Am I realllllllly developing nervous ticks again?"_ she wondered, remembering how as a child she would do this exact same little thing (as well as numerous others) when she was anxious or upset. She was trying to stop herself from fiddling with her hair.

"No way Trunks." Goten spoke as the two approached the kitchen, having changed into more casual clothing from there torn and drenched training clothes. Goten could feel his stomach about ready to let out another earth trembling rumble if he didn't get some food in him soon.

"Yea totally Goten. You don't believe me?"

"No Trunks. I really don't." Goten said, laughing and shaking his head at Trunks. As he entered the room he saw Bra quickly pull herself up straight in her chair and turn away from him and Trunks. Goten could have sworn he saw a slight blush on her face. Thinking about it caused him to feel a slight rise in heat in his cheeks. He quickly moved away from Trunks, taking a seat across the table from Bra, not wishing for Trunks to see his blush. He knew Trunks likely wouldn't have made the connection between her blush and his own, but he learned long ago not to underestimate Trunks' intelligence. He sighed slightly in relief as Trunks took a seat beside him before trying to resume the previous conversation.

A few moments later the three young saiyans were joined by Bulma, Vegeta and several mountains of food. Goten watched with some amusement as Bra devoured the sizable mound of food on her plate as he tuned out the rest of the dinner table conversation. No other girl could ever hope to compete with her appetite, except perhaps his niece pan. But Pan was more a tomboy while Bra was much more feminine. Long well-kept hair, nearly trimmed eye brows, perfectly manicured nails – albeit shorter than other girls he'd seen. He guessed that they were shorter than normal for those few occasional times when she did train; no one would want to train with her if she had what were essentially claws on her fingers. That made him wonder how exactly she did keep her nails so neatly trimmed. The only way he could keep his nails short was by picking them or occasional training accidents. Whenever he tried to use nail clippers, they would simply crumple under his attempts. He wondered if she did them herself.

As he was watching her intently, she looked up at him. He tensed slightly at what her reaction would be, feeling like a kid who'd been caught doing something bad. She squinted slightly, looking somewhat mischievous before she smiled at him. He smiled back before he heard his name spoken.

"So Goten, Trunks, how was school?" Bulma asked pleasantly.

"It was pretty good mom, bit boring though." Trunks replied "But we're almost done Goten, 3 more weeks and we'll be done Undergrad." Trunks raised his hand, closed into a fist towards Goten. Goten quickly returned the gestures, knuckle bumping Trunks. He returned to his food, avoiding Bra's eyes, lest he be caught looking at her by someone besides her.

Vegeta grunted before speaking for the first time. "Then maybe you two will stop slacking on your training."

"Vegeta!" Bulma scolded him, frowning slightly at her husband and looking at him disapprovingly.

"What?" Vegeta said forcefully, indicating that he had, in fact, been completely serious. "They should be spending their time living up to their Saiyan heritage, their deep physical potential. If you ask me, all they need to know is on the battlefield, not in some book or in some pathetic human's idea of a classroom."

Bra decided this was a good opportunity to not only defend Goten, but to also show that she wasn't afraid to poke fun at her father. She was probably the only person on the planet who wasn't.

"Well, it's a good thing no one was asking you then, isn't it daddy?" Bra spoke as-a-matter-a-factedly, inflecting her voice towards the end of her sentence and purposely smirking in the most Vegeta-esque manner she could manage. She held that smirk for a moment, before she began giggling.

Trunks choked on the piece of bread he'd been chewing a moment earlier. He half expected his dad to just straight up slap his sister through the house or something. That's likely what he would have gotten if he'd said that and started laughing at his father. But the other half of him knew better. His dad couldn't seem to say or do anything against his sister, even if he knew she was manipulating him (which he usually did) or was laughing at him. This infuriated Trunks to no end. He wished he had that kind of freedom. Trunks looked to his left to see Goten was smiling across the table to Bra, trying to restrain a laugh. If Trunks hadn't then looked to his father, and seen the slight flush of red on Vegeta's face, indicating his desperate attempt to restrain his anger, Trunks probably would have laughed too.

Vegeta seemed to have had enough of the family dinner, and angrily stood up from the table, nearly knocking his chair at the head of the table to the ground. He grabbed his plate, mumbling something about his pride and destroying the planet before he left the table, leaving the remaining 4 in silence. Once they were reasonably sure he was out of ear shot, they all nearly burst out laughing.

"Dad really needs to learn to relax sometimes." Trunks said.

"Yea mom, maybe you should "help" him with that more often" Bra added, air quoting the word help, laughing slightly harder than before at her own antics.

"Bra!" Trunks and Bulma both said in unision. Trunks voice had been filled mostly with disgust, while Bulma's had a distinct tone of amusement, followed by a restrained laugh.

There were a few moments of silent, content eating before Goten began talking again. Goten had a problem with silences, and so frequently felt compelled to fill the silence with something. Conversation seemed the appropriate option at the moment.

"So Trunks man, we need to plan something big for graduation."

"Yea no kidding Goten. After our birthday party, people seem to have pretty high expectations of us." Trunks said, briefly remembering the insanity and mess that had occurred at his and Goten's combined party last summer. Their birthdays were nearly a month apart, but they decided to host one party together at one of Capsule Corp.'s complexes.

"That's okay right mom?"

"Of course boys – try not to trash the place too badly this time though, alright?" Bulma said with a slight tad of annoyance and amusement.

"Well, I'll try my best. I can't speak for mister alcoholic over here." Trunks said gesturing to Goten.

"What? Hey! Come on Trunks. That was the first time I'd ever drank enough to be drunk. It's not my fault I put a couple holes in the wall by accident."

"Yea yea, a couple holes huh Goten? You're lucky people were too drunk to remember what you did. Bra, you'll help me keep him under control this time right?"

"I'll try." Bra grinned, remembering Goten ripping his shirt halfway off (what a nice memory that was right now) and running through a wall at the party. She'd been shocked he hadn't gone full out super saiyan and completely destroyed the place. He hadn't been malicious about the destruction he'd caused; he'd just been far too excitable, with far too little common sense while drunk. Kinda like how he was in the stories her brother used to tell her. She and Trunks hadn't been completely sober at the party, that was true, but they also hadn't been the ones who put Saiyan-sized holes in the walls.

"I really am proud of you boys you know that." Bulma smiled to her two boys. True Goten wasn't really "her" boy, but she'd known him since he was just a baby, and probably saw as much or more of him then his mother did. He really was like a second son. Seeing him always brought back fond memories, not only of happy family times, but also of her past history with Goku. Besides the hair, Goten had been and still was the spitting image of his father. "On that note, Goten, I wanted to ask if you had any plans once school is over?"

Goten seemed quite caught off guard by the question, choking on the rice he had previously been shoveling into his mouth.

"Mom!" Bra yelled disapprovingly. She'd actually asked Goten a similar question a few weeks ago, and it seemed to upset him a bit.

"It's just a question hunny." Bulma said, casually dismissing her daughter's protest to that question.

"It's okay." Goten said after having safely gotten the food down. "Honestly I have no idea what I'm doing after graduation Bulma."

"Hmm well I ask because we have a number of positions at Capsule Corp. that we need to fill."

Goten smiled appreciatively but shook his head. "That's super generous of you Bulma… but I wouldn't feel right with a job I only got as a personal favor."

"Oh come now Goten. I know you're plenty smart enough to get one of these positions with or without my help. If anything you'd actually be doing me a favor. But if you'd prefer to go through the bureaucratic bullshit, that'd be fine too." She said with a wink to Goten.

"Plus you'd get to spend more time around here." Bra said, causing both Goten and Trunks to look at her quizzically. "With Trunks and that…" She added quickly, trying to avert their looks.

Goten looked back to Bulma after a moment, "Well to be honest, I was thinking about becoming a teacher – like my brother."

"Hm that's a respectable choice as well. But just know the Capsule Corp option will always be open." She sighed slightly. "It's not going to be an easy adjustment once my dad retires."

"When is Gramps stepping down anyways mom?"

"Well he had one last project he wanted to work on before he called it quits. As usual he's being pretty secretive about it." She smiled slightly. This type of behavior was typical on her father's part. He was always good at keeping things secret.

"Wait, so he's doing the entire thing by himself?" Goten asked, slightly shocked.

"Well of course." Bulma replied. "My dad always works up the prototypes of his ideas by himself before passing them off to the engineering teams." She sighed tiredly. "I have a hard enough time with the research and trying to keep up with Vegeta's special projects; I can't imagine doing CEO duties like my dad too. But enough about that. What are you kids up to tonight?"

Bra glared at her mother. "We're not kids mom."

Bulma merely laughed. "Right, right of course, my mistake. What are you _young adults_ up to tonight?" Bulma said sarcastically, winking at her daughter. Bra just angrily sighed in frustration at her mother, dropping her fork onto her plate with a clang.

Trunks snickered slightly. It was funny watching how upset his sister became by any implication she wasn't an adult. Bra's hate filled glare quickly switched to him, and he coughed slightly as he stopped laughing. That glare, the flare in her eyes reminded him way to much of the anger he sometimes saw in his father's eyes for him to keep laughing.

"Anyways," he began, after recovering from his sister's stare. "I have a thing at 7:30."

He saw his sister's glare turn into a smirk, and saw the ever so come look of mischief in her eyes.

"What's her name Trunks?" Bra asked leadingly, really hoping to get under his skin.

"_Ughhh… "_ he thought, mentally cursing his sister before he managed to blurt out a rather unconvincing lie. "Nothing."

"Nothing huh? That's an unusual name." Bra continued, daunting over her brother. She could see him squirming slightly.

"No, I mean… there is no girl." Trunks tried again.

Bra shook her head, her smirk widening before she spoke "You know you're a terrible liar Trunks." Well that wasn't entirely true. Trunks was actually a pretty good liar, but his sister and father always seemed to see straight through him.

Trunks looked to his mother, who was looking at him quizzically, no doubt just waiting to ask half a million questions. He looked to his left to see Goten, trying to restrain some dumb little giggle. Trunks rolled his eyes at Goten _"Thanks a lot Goten." _he thought before sighing. He realized his sister had him nailed, and the easiest way to throw her off now would just be to admit to it and offer up information before she had a chance to ask. He'd be sure and get her back for this.

"Okay okay. Her name is Kendra, and before you ask, yes I met her at school, she's studying philosophy, this is our first date, and no you don't get to meet her yet."

He saw Bra furrow her brow at him, no doubt annoyed that he had spoiled her fun. At least that was a bit of consolation.

"Geez Trunks, you act like we were going to give you the third degree." His mother said feigning insult.

"Are you saying you weren't?" Trunks quickly fired back.

"Well…"

"Yea. That's what I thought." Trunks said before he heard a stifled laugh finally escaping Goten. A quick glare from Trunks quickly put a stop to that. "Can we just drop it?"

"Okay, okay. Sorry Trunks." Bulma replied. "Have a nice time with your girlfriend."

Trunks half-growled, half-groaned in frustration. "She's _**not**_ my girlfriend!"

Bra burst into a fit of giggles across the table causing Trunks to fiercely starred at her. "What's so funny?" he demanded.

"You are, Trunks." She continued giggling at him.

Trunks clenched his fist tightly, trying to restrain himself. He eyed his fork sitting on his plate, and in a lightning quick motion he threw his fork at his sister. She dodged it of course, and only started laughing at him harder.

"A fork Trunks? Really? You could at least throw a ki blast at me or something. I'm insulted."

Trunks raised a hand towards Bra, contemplating obliging her. That smart ass look she was still giving him and her continued laughing weren't helping to change his mind.

"Enough you two!" Bulma said forcefully. Trunks lowered his hand, sighing irritably at his sister as her giggling began to slow.

"Let's go Goten." Trunks said standing up from the table.

"But Trunks!" Goten said incredulously, motioning towards the still ample amount of food on his plate. "I'm still eating!"

"Fine!" Trunks replied angrily, walking away from the table.

"Wait, Trunks, I'm still coming back here later right?" Goten said, quickly changing his tone to an apologetic one.

"Yea yea.." Trunks replied, his tone having softened before he left the room. He needed to get ready for his date anyways.

"Ohhh so you have a date too huh Goten?" Bra asked, forcing a sly tone into her voice and a smile onto her face. Why was she upset about hearing that?

"Yea.." Goten said, blushing. He was slightly dumbfounded at how easily Bra seemed to be able to put stuff together. "With Valese."

"Oh." Bra replied flatly. Try as she might, she couldn't force a happy expression or tone about hearing that. She'd only met Valese once or twice, but that had been ample enough to decide she didn't like her. After the problems she heard they were having, she had hoped Goten would finally drop her.

"Yea.." Goten said, feeling himself blush deeper. He wanted to get the attention off himself.

"But what about you? What are you doing tonight B-Chan?"

"Studying." Bra replied, rolling her eyes to convey her displeasure with this fact.

"Lucky you!" Goten replied sarcastically.

"Oh yea. Lucky me." Bra replied, even more sarcastically, but finding herself smiling at Goten.


	3. The Good, the Bad and The Ugly

Trunks flipped the tail of his tie around, and then flipped it back, growling in frustration. He could never remember the correct way to do this. He was dressed in a smooth white long sleeved shirt with lavish black pants, a nicely formed crease along them. A freshly pressed over coat was laid out his bed, waiting for him to finish with the tie.

"Need some help Trunks?" a voice asked, speaking from Trunk's bedroom doorway. Trunks turned around to face her. He was going to tell her to go away, but instead found himself sighing in defeat.

"Yea… please." He responded, feeling pathetic.

Bra grinned, walking over to him. She closely examined his room, curious as to what had changed; it'd been a few months since Trunks had actually let her in his room. It looked mostly the same, just as messy as she remembered. There seemed to be some order to the chaos though. The piles of clothes for instance were strewn about by type then color. She was actually kind of impressed on Trunks' ability to hover the border between order and chaos.

When she reached him, she reached her hands for the tie, quickly pulling apart the mess Trunks had created with it. In a flash she had it tied correctly, and just finished leveling it out before letting it fall back to his chest.

"There you go." She said smiling.

"Thanks sis." Trunks replied genuinely, before pulling the sleeves of his shirt out fully. "Well how do I look?"

"Like a tool." She replied giggling. Trunks rolled his eyes, before pointing a hand towards the door.

"Out." He said firmly.

"Aw come on Trunks. I was just kidding." She pouted sadly, purposely making her voice as innocent, and her eyes as sad as she could manage. Trunks sighed again, turning away from her and back to the full length mirror he'd been standing in front of previously. She stepped up beside him, smiling. She was considering doing something unpleasant to him, like pushing him through the mirror or stealing his car keys, or maybe running off with the jacket he had laid out on his bed, but she decided against it. She felt slightly guilty at having agitated him so much at dinner.

"You look good." She began. "Maybe a little over dressed though?"

"Well, gotta make the right impression." Trunks said flatting out the few wrinkles he saw in his pant legs.

"What impression is that? Pretentious? Rich? Suit Monkey?"

"Bra…" Trunks cautioned, malice in his voice.

Bra raised her hands up as metaphoric white flags. "Just trying to give you a little advice. Why don't you go a little more casual, like I'm sure Goten is going to?"

"It's out first date though."

"Exactly."

Trunks considered his sister. He sensed she wasn't trying to be mean or manipulative. The advice seemed genuine. If she wasn't trying to be manipulative, he'd have to trust her opinion. That year alone in space with a manchild-turned-actual-child and a 14 year old girl had eroded much of the suaveness he had amongst girls his age. "Well what would you suggest?"

"hmm…" Bra said, stroking her chin slightly, considering his room. "Well… what's clean Trunks?" she smirked.

Without hesitation, Trunks pointed to a few large piles of clothes near the left corner, by his dresser. Bra quickly made her way over to the piles, dropping onto her knees to allow easier access to the clothes piles. She quickly sifted through them, murmuring things like "maybe… hm… no.. yes… _definitely_ not." When she found something she liked, she would toss it behind her, having it landing perfectly on Trunks who would quickly add it to the small pile on his bed. He was amazed how quickly she had sorted his clothes into "acceptable" and "not acceptable". Trunks remained mostly silent as he watched her work. She moved to his bed where he'd placed the small pile. She raised a finger to her mouth, strumming her bottom lip lightly as she considered the clothing she'd selected. She snatched a shirt up, moving back to Trunks. She pulled it open and placed it against his chest.

"Hold that." She demanded. Trunks obliged.

She took a few steps back before forming her hands into L shapes and raising them in front of her, as if creating an imaginary rectangle, framing Trunks. She closed one eye and considered Trunks carefully.

"Hmmm…" she said.

"What?" Trunks asked, feeling somewhat self-conscious about his sister's judgment.

"Not quite right…" she said, lowering her hands before moving back toward Trunks, yanking the shirt out of his hands and tossing it into the discarded pile. She pulled up another shirt, and repeated the process nearly exactly.

By the time she had finished (and not a moment too soon by Trunks' watch) she had selected a nice, dark, long sleeved shirt. It was just tight enough to show off his near flawless physique without looking like he was purposely drawing attention to it. The Pants were a little looser, and weren't much different from the dress pants he had select earlier, but they did feel and look less formal. Trunks had to admit, he did look pretty good as he looked in the full length mirror.

"That's better." she grinned.

"Thanks sis." Trunks replied grinning back. Bra moved towards him again; Trunks was expecting her to make some snarky comment, or that she decided things didn't look quite right, but instead she wrapped her arms around him, pulling herself in tight against him. For a second Trunks remained motionless. His sister hadn't hugged him in…. kami he didn't even know how long, so it took a moment to overcome the shock. Once he had, he quickly returned the gesture.

"What's gotten into you Bra?" He asked once they'd separated.

"Nothin." She said innocently. "Have fun Trunks!" she giggled before rushing out of his room.

Trunks smiled, but shook his head slightly confused.

* * *

><p>Trunks fished his set of keys out of his pocket, a light hum filling the air as the motion sensors kicked it. A moment later, bright light flooded from overhead, illuminating the massive garage. Trunks had to squint for a moment until his eyes adjusted to the large influx of light. The garage was filled with 16 cars, a variety of makes and colors but representing just a small fraction of the amount of vehicles owned by the Briefs'. Trunks had keys to four of them, and paused at the entrance to the garage, carefully considering which one to take.<p>

"Yo Trunks." A voice said stepping to his left and placing a firm hand of Trunks' left shoulder.

"Hey Goten." Trunks said looking to his left towards his friend, but still considering his transportation options.

"I'm out, Valese is expecting me in about.." Goten raised his watch which was on his free hand. "Sheesh." He quickly pulled the hand on Trunks shoulder off, slapping himself lightly in the forehead as if to ensure he really was reading the time correctly. "20 minutes. Crap. I better go. I don't want her to give her a reason to freak out on me."

Trunks looked at Goten curiously, seeing a genuine look of apprehension, and even a little fear. _"Jeeeezzz, what is this girl doing to him?" _Trunks thought. It was weird and uncomfortable to see Goten worried. About anything. "Alright Goten. I should be back around 11:30. Come over whenever."

"Right.." Goten said, noticing the look Trunks was giving. He quickly changed his expression, trying to get rid of Trunks' look. "Alright I'll see you later Trunks." He said before returning back into the bowels of Capsule Corp to collect a few things before he returned home to finish getting ready.

Trunks scowled slightly as he watched his friend leave the garage. He was going to grill Goten tonight, and he sure as hell wasn't going to take "no" or "everything is fine" for an answer this time. He'd make Goten tell him what was wrong, even if he had to resort to his childhood tactic of pummeling Goten into submission. But for now, he returned his look to the garage, having decided to drive a small black convertible his mother had bought him for his 19th birthday.

* * *

><p>Trunks kept one hand on the steering wheel as he rubbed his face out of a mix of boredom and irritation. He eyed the time on the car's dashboard. The wind was brisk and biting as it rushed against against him, blowing his hair every which way. The suns last rays were dying out just beyond a distant row of trees.<p>

Trunks checked his speed. He was a solid 20 km/hr over the speed limit, but it still felt slow as hell. This is why he hated driving. It took forever to get anywhere. He shifted awkwardly in the driver's seat, growing impatient with how slow he was moving. He was considering just picking the car up and carrying it with him to her dorm, but his common sense and cautionary nature wouldn't let him do so.

Sometimes he really hated having to hide such a big part of himself from a world; a sentiment he knew was shared by his family and closest friends. But he knew if they wanted to have any chance of fitting into normal society, letting people know you could punch down mountain ranges or blow up the planet with your energy wasn't a good way to do it. He sighed, wondering if he'd ever find a girl who could handle that kind of truth. Kendra was nice, pretty, and smart (why would he have asked her on a date otherwise), but he already knew she wasn't the right girl for him. He really wasn't sure he'd ever find the right girl. He knew this thought process was cynical, especially since he was only 23 years old. His parents hadn't met till his father was in his 30s (though he definitely didn't want to meet a girl in the same way his parents met). From the outside they might have seemed a strange couple; his father was usually incredibly serious, and incredibly intimidating. His mother was generally cheerful and had an almost bubbly personality hiding her intelligence. But those traits obscured the fact they DID have a lot in common. The two were brilliant (albeit in different ways). They were incredibly driven and tenacious to get what they wanted. They knew how to play people, and each other, and they were the two most stubborn people he knew. Well them and his sister.

He shook his head though. Tonight was supposed to be fun, and he didn't want to be in a foul mood before he even picked her up. Just because she wasn't his "soul mate", or any of that silly nonsense doesn't mean he couldn't have a good time with her.

* * *

><p>Back At Capsule Corp:<p>

Bra paced around her room, having long ago decided homework just wasn't going to get done tonight. She was way to wound up to even sit down for more than a few seconds at a time. If she wasn't so wholly repulsed by the smell, she would have smoked a cigarette to calm her nerves. The one time she had, it had certainly helped her nerves. But the smell had lingered on her for days, offending her finely tuned senses and making her nearly vomit. She had been forced to hide from her father less he catch the smell as well.

She had been avoiding tackling the source of her restlessness, but she was going to have to come to terms with it sooner or later. She sighed before she threw herself onto her king-sized bed.

"You've got it for Goten Bra." She spoke aloud in her room, her voice firmly above the background music she had on; she had set her playlist to classical, thinking it might calm her down. It hadn't. In saying it aloud, she had hoped it might make it easier to let the thought settle in her mind. It didn't. It still seemed just as strange and flat-out wrong. She was immediately back up on her feet, pacing her room once more.

"Why Goten?" she muttered to herself quietly. Where between following him and Trunks around as a child, food fights at the dinner table, play fighting (where he'd always let her win), between summer vacations, late night movie nights, her throw away boyfriends and his girl-playing-teens had her feelings towards Goten become more then familial?

"_In retrospect, maybe things hadn't always been quite that innocent."_ she thought, thinking back over their interactions the last few years.

Last summer, she recalled she had caught Goten red-handed, gawking at her in her bikini. She had played it off then, taking it as a compliment. After all, she had worked damn hard to get that kind of figure.

She remembered purposely flaunting her boyfriends in front of Trunks and Goten. At the time she thought she was doing it purely to enrage Trunks at the boys' peril. But maybe it had been her pathetic young girl attempts to get Goten's attention. She groaned at herself at having been so stupid back then.

Bra took a seat at the chair at her desk, a hand running through her hair and her left leg jumping up and down restlessly.

She had always thought Goten was cute, but it wasn't until his mid-teens that Goten had really come into his own. Countless hours tutoring under Gohan, and his mother's constant pressure ensured that, eventually, things did snap together for him academically. Sure he was no genius like his brother or her or Trunks or her parents, but he was far from the simpleton he'd been as a kid. At least as many, probably many times more, hours of fighting, sparring and training had given him the perfect physique he had now.

Unlike her brother and the rest of her family who were tenacious, scheming and proud, Goten was light-hearted, laid back and a go with the flow kind of guy. It was something that had always helped counter balance Trunks, and likely contributed to making their friendship that much stronger. That had to be part of the attraction she felt as well.

She stood up, raising her hands in surrender. Try as she might, there was no logic cracks or loopholes she could reason about to avoid her previous conclusion. She really did like Goten. And it wasn't just a little. Hell, she had even tried to make peace with her brother earlier in the hopes that he would let her hang out with them tonight. How pathetic was that? It had been nice to be on peaceful terms with her brother for once, but that hadn't been the main reason why she'd made the peace offering.

Okay, so… even if she did like Goten, why was she getting sooo bent out of shape about it? It's not like she hadn't liked guys before; admittedly none of them had been quite like Goten… and none of them had been her brother's best friend. Still though, guys NEVER got to her. Ever. So what was so different this time? Guys had always seemed like fun toys to play around with. But not Goten. She stopped pacing her room and stood in front of the full length mirror on her wall. She looked at herself for several moments, considering the question.

"Oh no…" she gasped out loud, covering her mouth in shock, her eyes snapping wide open and her mouth falling ajar as the truth finally dawned on her. "No no no." She shook her head. No matter how hard she shook her head, it didn't change anything. "How did I let this happen!" she growled with a hint of self-loathing before she let a fist fly; a natural reaction that she couldn't restrain. Her fist impacted against the wall of her room. The solid construction – drywall, insulation, wood – crumbled to dust beneath her fist. If she had been an inch further forward, her fist would have cleared straight through the wall.

She pulled her fist from the wall, not caring about the mess and debris on her floor or the near clear through hole now in her bedroom wall. She fell back into her chair, feeling faint and light headed.

"I love Goten. I'm so fucking stupid." She berated herself, already knowing the relationship could never work. Even if by some miracle she somehow managed to break out of Goten's "little-sister" view of her, her father and Trunks were insurmountable hurdles. Goten was the one boy she knew she couldn't have.

She felt a tug at the corner of her eye, weak at first, but rapidly coming on stronger, complementing the shortness of breath she was feeling. She felt a cold wetness from the corner of her eyes and raised a hand to them. She wiped away the cold tear and looked at her fingertips. The tips glistened slightly in the dim light of her room.

"Oh great. Now I'm crying too. What is wrong with me…" She said, looking out the window, disgusted with herself and the weakness she was showing. She was struggling to not let her emotions get the better of her; her pride was already hurting enough as it was. She felt like someone had gotten the better of her, had tricked her into loving him. It was stupid to think like that, but she couldn't understand how she could have let herself slip up this badly.

Bra hadn't cried in years, and she would not allow herself to do so now. She needed something, anything to get her mind off of this before it got the better of her. Her Saiyan roots were showing as right as this desire manifested itself in the form of her wanting nothing more than to beat the shit out of someone. Goten would have been a fine choice - it was mostly his fault she was feeling like this after all - but he wasn't here right now. Her eyes caught the faint red glow from the windows of the gravity room, tucked in to the right behind the capsule corp dormitory. The red glow was almost eerie in the moments away from night darkness of the sky. As she stared at the gravity room, she found she was able to keep back the tears that previously refused to listen to her.

"That's it." She breathed out deeply, fully up righting herself from her chair. She grabbed a bright purple hair tie from the corner of her desk, using it to pull her hair tight into a ponytail. She made up her mind. She was going to train with her dad. It wasn't something she decided lightly; the last time she had done so, Vegeta had almost brought her to tears with his harshness and no bullshit attitude. But that's desperately what she needed right now. Someone who wouldn't coddle her and demand to know what she was upset. She couldn't tell anyone that, and she didn't deserve to have someone feel sorry for her. She had gotten herself into this situation. She needed someone who would just let her take out her frustration using her Saiyan side and not chastise her or make her feel guilty for it.

* * *

><p>Bra stood by the entrance to the Gravity Room, wishing she'd dressed slightly more warmly then the shorts and tank top she had chosen. The early spring air nipped at her, causing her to shiver and goosebumps to break out all over her skin. She wiped her eyes repeatedly, ensuring there were no remnants of tears on her face before her father saw her.<p>

"Okay.." she spoke aloud, breathing deep and ensuring she was mentally ready. The red glow was unnerving as she watched how it illuminated the area around the Gravity Room. Her grip on the water bottle she had tightened and she felt it buckle slightly beneath her grasp.

Bra raised her free hand to the intercom outside the gravity room, her index finger resting on the large red button that would open the communication to her father. She hesitated, unsure if she really should do this. Maybe if she waited until Trunks came home, then him and Goten… Goten. She frowned somewhat as she considered that name. What a stupid name it was. She pushed the button.

There was a sound of static, just audible to her sensitive ears. She noticed the red glow from the thick gravity room windows dimmed. She ran her tongue along her teeth, waiting for her father to answer, and hoping he would not be overly cross with her at having disrupted him. She wasn't sure how long she was waiting until the intercom's static flared up and her father's voice came through. She was certain it hadn't been more than a minute, but it had felt excruciatingly longer than that.

"What is it?" He voice barked through demandingly, just the slightest hint of breathlessness in his voice. The intercom speaker attempted to convey his irritation and gruffness, but wholly faltered, resulting in some unpleasant speaker feedback that stung her ears slightly.

"Daddy it's me." She responded, keeping her tone neutral and flat, not wishing to incite her father one way or another.

"Bra? What do you want?" he asked. The irritation had certainly lessened from before, but was unmistakably still present.

"I.." she began, but found her resolve quickly faltering. "Well I was wondering…"

"Spit it out girl!"

She took a deep breath before she blurted out "I want to train with you." She felt a slight tinge of regret in the back of her mind. She had said it. There was no backing out now. She knew she had to do this, but it had been comforting to know there was a possible out.

There was a slight static burst before the intercom went dead. Bra furrowed her brow at the intercom, wondering what the hell her father was trying to say by doing that. She crossed her arms and started tapping her foot impatiently, wondering if she should try the intercom again. She needed this, and her father wasn't going to deny her it.

Bra unfolded her arms and made to reach for the intercom again, but just as she did, she heard the clangs and grinding gears as the entrance to the gravity room folded open. She lowered her hand back to her side as she watched the metal doors split and open. A rush of air passed her as the gravity room equalized in pressure with the outside air. She shivered again, as her father stepped out. He looked like hell. And no wonder, she knew he'd been in there all day; much as he always was. He had small scorch marks all over, and his clothes were tattered and torn. She cringed slightly when she saw his left hand. The index finger was bent in a way that was extremely painful just to look at.

He looked to her, narrowing his eyes slightly. His face was stern and hard, but not in an attempt to make her go away. She returned his stare, scowling at him slightly. She really did not want to explain why she needed to do this. She couldn't tell him the truth, and her mind felt far too befuddled to come up with a plausible lie. But he didn't question her. Rather, after having considered her for a few moments, he simply stepped back, giving her room to enter the gravity room before gesturing with his hand for her to enter. She obliged.

* * *

><p>Goten was waiting impatiently under the bright light near the entrance of the park. It's where he and Valese had agreed to meet before heading out for their date. It was a little chilly out, but the park looked serene and peaceful, illuminated by the lights sprinkled throughout. There was the occasional person, or small group walking through the park that passed Goten, and he would usually exchange a friendly smile with them as he waited.<p>

Goten had elected to wear a simple dark blue dress shirt and matching dress pants. It was a little more formal, and had required a little more effort in selection then his usual outfit selections, but tonight was their 6 month anniversary. Goten needed the night to go perfect to try and erase the problems he and Valese had been having lately.

She had made it abundantly clear that she didn't trust him. She had accused him of keeping secrets from her, even of cheating on her. While it was true he was keeping secrets from her, the fact that she had actually thought he could cheat on her had hurt the relationship in ways Goten wasn't sure were repairable. It was true that he had a bit of a reputation of for his womanizing in high school/early university (almost as bad as Trunks' had been), but he'd grown past that. And even then, he would NEVER cheat on a girl once they were his girlfriend. His conscience wouldn't allow him do something like that, no matter how tempted he was.

Goten saw tonight as an opportunity for them to leave that part behind and move forward fresh. She must have believed him when he said he wasn't cheating, otherwise why would she have kept the relationship together. He was willing to try and look past his pride and move forward if she was. That's why it was important that tonight went perfect, as this was a new chapter in the relationship.

Goten checked his watch again. 17 minutes late. This wasn't a good way to start the night. And to think how quickly he'd rushed out of Capsule Corp and gotten ready. Goten hoped up and down a couple times, trying to loosen out some of the tension that was building in him. He pulled his phone out of his pocket to make sure he hadn't missed a text or call. He already knew he hadn't. His Saiyan senses would have easily felt or heard his phone if it'd received something. But he checked anyways. He slid the keyboard portion out, causing the LCD screen's backlight to light up, stinging his eyes for the briefest moment before they adjusted. No missed calls, no new texts.

Goten sighed, sliding the keyboard back up and slipping his phone into his pocket. He decided he'd find out where she was. He closed his eyes, allowing his highly refined energy senses free reign. All around him, he could feel a sea of life and energy. It looked like an almost uniform warm light pervading every direction except up. He filtered out the signatures not belonging to humans/saiyans, allowing them to become background light; this allowed the stronger energy signals to stand out much stronger amidst the ambient life energy. As he navigated the glowing energy, he immediately picked out the big, albeit suppressed, energy signals; his own, Trunks' on the far side of town near the university, Gohan's - also at the university, though much more suppressed then the rest. No doubt he was doing some late teaching or tutoring. His Father's was back at home on the couch. Goten smiled slightly, picturing his dad napping on the couch after a massive meal, snoring loudly as he always did. He was surprised he didn't sense Bra back at capsule corp. She did say she was going to be doing homework all night didn't she?

After focusing around Capsule Corp a little more, he did manage to pick up Bra's signature, along with Vegeta's. Their energy signatures were very faint; just barely detectable within the confines of the gravity room. Goten's eyes snapped open. Bra was in the gravity room with Vegeta? He had a pretty good idea what that meant. She was either extremely upset, or extremely angry. She normally hated training with her father, and only did so when she felt she did something to deserve it or was desperate to unleash her inner Saiyan side. She had told him she was never going to train with her father again after what he did last time, so he couldn't imagine what had happened to make her change her mind. Whatever it was, it couldn't be good. Goten raised his middle and index fingers to his forehead, using them to better focus in on her faint energy signal. He had a strong lock on her, and was about to Instant Transmit back to Capsule Corp, when a voice broke through his focus. It was so high and cutting Goten nearly fell over in surprise.

"Goten!"

Goten took a few quick breaths, leveling his head out before he turned to the source of the voice, forcing a smile onto his face.

"Hey Valese!" he replied, bending down slightly to meet her as they exchanged a quick peck on the lips. _"Sorry Bra… "_ Goten thought, trying not to let the apprehension and guilt about not going back to Capsule Corp show on his face as he continued to smile at Valese.

Goten was tapping his hands against the steering wheel in tune with the song on the radio as he drove Valese and himself to a nearby restaurant. In the back of his mind though, he couldn't stop worry about Bra. He'd found it hard to sense her ki while Valese had been constantly talking to him, but he could feel she was still in the gravity room with Vegeta

"Well Goten?" she asked, looking at him expectantly.

"Huh?" Goten replied, looking to her quizzically. He wasn't sure what she was expecting from him.

She pouted and crossed her arms, but Goten found it more repelling then cute like when Bra did the same actions.

"You weren't listening at all were you!" she said accusingly.

Goten paused for a moment, considering if there was a correct reply to that. There didn't seem to be one.

"I'm sorry. I was just thinking about something."

"Well what were you thinking about?" she demanded.

"It's… not important." He said meagerly, frantically searching for something she'd believe. There's no way he could say he was thinking about Bra without setting her off, and he knew she wouldn't just drop it.

"It must have been important." She frowned at him.

"It's just school. It's stressing me out is all." Goten lied. It seemed a pretty good lie at that. He hoped she would buy it.

"Oh… that sucks. You're almost finished though right?"

"Yea.." Goten sighed in relief at her having bought it. "3 more weeks. How's school going for you?"

"Okay I guess. There was this essay I was totally supposed to do last week but I like… totally spaced on till the day before it was due. I kind of threw it together and got a 78 so that was pretty good."

"Heh, yea, nice job."

Goten and Valese were sitting at a small table for two in a lavish restaurant near the center of West City. Goten could hear Valese prattling on about the movie they had seen earlier, but he honestly hadn't caught more than a few minutes of it. His mind had been elsewhere, so the best he could do was to nod and agree with her about the movie's merit.

Goten poked around at his food before frowning at the pittance that passed for a main course at the restaurant. Though he had eaten a full meal, even by Saiyan standards, no more than three and a half hours ago, he was hungry again. He couldn't believe anyone, even the dainty girl across from him, could consider this a full meal. At least it tasted quite good (though it had nothing on his mother's cooking). He recalled the dinner earlier and the cute, squinting looks Bra had given him across the table. Bra… he hadn't stopped worrying about her this whole time. He knew that was a terrible thing for a boyfriend to do, have his mind focused on another girl the entire night, but he couldn't help it.

"Goten? Hey Goteeeeennnn." Valese's voice rang through as he jabbed at his food with his fork.

"Hmm?"

"What's wrong? I know it isn't just school." She narrowed her eyes. Though Goten knew she was suspicious of him, it was obvious she cared more that something was getting to him as her face's expression was primarily one of concern. As he looked into her eyes, deep and gorgeously dark, he realized something important – her eyes no longer entranced him. He no longer felt like he could get lost in their depths.

"Valese… I…" Goten began, his eyes leaving hers and looking to the table. He felt her link her right hand together with his.

"Come on Goten…"

She was only making this harder. He breathed in deep, re-looking her in the eyes. He'd stared down the most terrifying being in the universe at 7 years old, but that felt like nothing now compared to this.

"I can't Valese."

"You can't what?" she asked, a noticeable strain in her voice followed by a tightening of her grip on his hand. She was anticipating what came next, and her voice clearly showed that.

"I can't see you anymore." He spoke, his voice unusually soft. He knew she heard however, as she quickly pulled her hand out of his. He saw a twitch in the corner of her face as she stared at him blankly.

"Valese, I'm sorry." Was all Goten found he could say. His throat was dry and his voice was slightly hoarse. He really was sorry. He'd had such high hopes that tonight was going to be a new beginning for him and Valese. He was right, but it certainly wasn't in the way he had originally imagined. The worst thing was she hadn't done anything wrong. While she had been clinging and distrustful before, she hadn't exhibited that behavior in some time, and tonight she had been perfect. But the fact that she had been so caring and nice, but still failed to draw out any of that warm feeling Goten had initially had around her only seemed to confirm that his feelings for her had passed. There was no point in trying to make this work.

"It's another girl isn't it?" she asked. He could see her restraining her tears. The neutral tone she was able to force her voice in too was unnerving.

"No!" Goten quickly said adamantly. It wasn't really a lie after all. Even if he his years old crush on Bra hadn't really started to intensify lately, he knew now it would eventually have come to this between them. He wasn't doing this because he had some expectation of being with Bra. That had been, and still was a stupid thing to hope for. He was doing this because their relationship just didn't feel right. He couldn't continue knowing he didn't feel the same way about her as she did about him.

He wasn't sure if she believed him, but it didn't stop the terrible feeling he had as she started to cry.

"Valese… please don't cry."

"Take me home Goten."

Goten nodded.


	4. Malice and Family

As soon as Goten had dropped Valese off, he had begun looking for a deserted street where he could leave the car temporarily. It would be painfully slow to drive back to Capsule Corp when he could just Instant Transmit. As soon as he found an empty street, he parked the car haphazardly, too concerned with getting back to Capsule Corp to situate the car correctly. The second he had pulled the keys from the ignition, his hand was at his forehead, middle and index fingers extended. Without the slightest hesitation, he Instant Transmitted to Capsule Corp, sending a strong gust outwards inside the car, disturbing the few loose items within it. He'd worry about returning the car later.

The streaking world refocused an instant later as he rematerialized just behind the back door of the Capsule Corp dormitories. He still wasn't an expert at Instant Transmission, so he rematerialized at an angle, and found himself caught slightly off balance once he came back into focus. He quickly compensated however, and landed smoothly on the grass. A strong wind blew across the field as he rushed towards the gravity chamber, it bit into him and he shivered slightly.

He slowed as he approached the Gravity Room, realizing he hadn't actually thought about what he'd do once he got there. Did he really intend to bust in there and "rescue" Bra from Vegeta? He didn't even know how to get the damn doors open. Further, even if he somehow got out of there with her without Vegeta beating him senseless, did she really want to leave? She was incredibly stubborn, and if she wanted to stay in there, he'd have a hard time convincing her otherwise. He began to wonder if he hadn't maybe overreacted to the situation. He raised a hand to his head, scratching it as he thought about what exactly he was supposed to do.

As he stood there thinking, a loud whirring and grinding came from the gravity room. He set his eyes to the door way, assuming those noises meant the doors were opening. The red glow that had previously been illuminating him brightened to white.

Goten looked on apprehensively as the doors inched their way open slowly; as if taunting him. He didn't even notice the strong gust that passed him as the Gravity Room depressurized. When the thick steel doors finally did part fully, they revealed the two Saiyans who had previously inhabited its innards. Goten found the air sucked out of his lungs and his mouth fall agape in horror as he saw Bra. She was torn up, covered in bruises, cuts, scorch marks, and raw and bleeding skin on her arms and legs. She looked as if she'd had the shit kicked out of her. Knowing Vegeta, Goten was quite sure she had. Still he was taken aback – He couldn't recall Trunks having ever looked this bad after going toe to toe with Vegeta, and Goten had trouble believing Vegeta could actually do that to Bra.

She was limping slightly and had a tight hold around her father to keep herself upright. He felt a massive influx of rage that almost overpowered the concern he had for Bra. He had to purposely suppress his energy to avoid turning Super Saiyan right then and there. He rushed over to her, nearly slipping on the grass in his hastened, disillusioned state. He flashed an incredibly malicious look towards Vegeta for the briefest instant before he lowered himself so he was looking her in the face.

"Bra!" was all he managed to spit out, still quaking in rage.

"Go..ten?" she said slowly, her words slightly slurred as she looked up from the ground to him. Her eyes which were previously fluttering between opened and closed seemed to harden as she looked at him. He saw her raise her free arm up, tightening it into a fist before she groaned and her eyes closed. Her arm went limp and fell back to her side.

Goten paused for a moment. Had she just tried to hit him? Vegeta must have knocked the poor girl senseless. Goten knew she was on the verge of passing out, and likely wouldn't be able to speak any further. He stood up to his full height, moving over to Vegeta. Goten knew Vegeta would not be intimidated by his superior size, but that did not stop him from trying to laud the several inches he had over Vegeta. Goten's stare pierced down at Vegeta.

"You! What did you do to her!" Goten demanded.

Vegeta returned Goten's glare without missing a beat. Though he had never seen Kakarot's youngest quite this angry, he almost felt himself laughing at the boys attempts to intimidate him. Vegeta knew there was no way Goten was foolish enough to believe he could really stand up to him, but that didn't seem to be stopping him from trying.

"Out of the way boy!" Vegeta replied irritably, forcing a hand against Goten and easily pushing him aside despite Goten's attempts at resistance. The instant Vegeta had moved Goten out of the way, Goten was in front of him again.

"I said what did you do to her!" Goten demanded again, louder and more forceful this time. His rage had been piqued by Vegeta's seeming casualness and lack of remorse about what he'd done to Bra, and he felt himself inadvertently slip into Super Saiyan, casting the radiant golden glow all around the Capsule Corp grounds. Normally, he had a great deal of control over his Super Saiyan transformation, and was able to perform it without unleashing an excess of energy. This wasn't one of those normal times however, and his rageful transformation had ripped apart much of the ground around him, a slight haze of debris hanging in the air. The strong gusts of wind kicked up by the expulsion of energy had uprooted some of the small plants in the yard and bent back and broken several branches on the trees around the three of them.

Vegeta scoffed at Goten, the slightest hint of a laugh escaping him which only aggravated Goten further. Vegeta decided to appease the boy, if only for the sake of getting him to go away.

"She is fine you dolt. And she doesn't need you to coddle her like an infant."

"She doesn't look fine!" Goten raged.

"She needs rest, and that is all. Now get out of my way and let me take her to her room, or I will make you get out of my way."

Goten continued to stare at Vegeta, taking slow and controlled breaths as he got himself under control, fading out of Super Saiyan and casting the three back into darkness, save the ambient light of the Gravity Room and the light pollution from West City. Perhaps Vegeta was right, maybe she wasn't as bad as she looked. Vegeta could be a cruel son of a bitch, but if there's one thing he loved, it was his family. He wouldn't do something to unnecessarily put their lives in jeopardy. Goten looked back to Bra, allowing his energy senses, which had previously been obscured by his anger, to read her. Her energy level wasn't at a dangerously low level; she was just absolutely exhausted. Goten sighed, but forced a hardened look back onto his face as he returned to Vegeta.

"I'll take her." He stated firmly.

Vegeta's eyes narrowed for a moment. Although Bra hadn't said what had set her off, he had an inkling it was related to Goten in some way - especially after he had seen her attempt to hit the boy a moment ago. Still, he didn't particularly want to deal with the woman's accusations and delusions about what had happened over the past few hours, nor have her guilt him for having injured Bra when Bra had practically begged for him to fight with her seriously. It was aggravating to him that, even with all the time his mate had spent around him and other Saiyans, she still did not really understand them. Vegeta often felt himself and Kakarot were the only ones who did. Moreover, Bulma often seemed to forget that Bra was just as much Saiyan as she was human.

"Fine. But you will take her to her straight room and that is all. She is in no condition to put up with you. If her mother asks where I am, you are to tell her you don't know."

Goten frowned but nodded. He moved forward as Vegeta gently pulled Bra's hand off of him. Bra stirred slightly, giving a small amount of resistance to Vegeta's removal of her hand. Goten took it and quickly moved in to replace Vegeta. Bra mumbled something that even Goten's sensitive hearing could not discern. He felt a rustling behind him and turned to see Vegeta streaking up into the sky, quickly disappearing behind the light cloud cover.

"Come on Bra.." Goten spoke softly, giving her a slight forward push with the hand he had wrapped around her waist. He'd have enjoyed this under different circumstances, but was far too concerned with her wellbeing right now. She followed his lead and began to walk slowly. Her limping became slightly less with each step.

Goten desperately wanted to ask her what had given her the near suicidal urge to go into a full on training match with Vegeta, but he realized she was too out of it to give him a coherent answer. Besides, he didn't want to upset her further if she didn't want to talk about it.

Just as Goten was about to get her into her room, he heard a door open behind him, followed almost immediately by a light overhead turning on. Goten froze in place like a deer caught in the headlights. It was Bulma.

A moment later he heard a half scream, half gasp come from Bulma. He turned to face her.

"Oh my kami! What the hell happened!" Bulma demanded of Goten as she looked over Bra. "My poor little girl, are you okay?" She spoke, softer now.

"Um.. she was training with Vegeta.." Goten let out meekly.

"Vegeta!" Bulma screamed. Goten could see the flush in her cheeks, a sure sign she was furious. "Where is that bastard!"

"Mom.." Bra spoke, softly, but not opening her eyes.

"What is it hunny? What did your asshole of a father do to you?"

"I'm fine.." Bra said, her voice having surprisingly strong conviction given her state.

"You're **not** fine. Look at you!"

"I asked him to." Bra said, her eyes finally opening and looking at her mother. Bulma recoiled slightly, both what her daughter had said and the look in her eyes.

"You.. you asked your father to beat the living hell of you?"

"No.. I asked him to fight me seriously. Like I was Trunks."

Bulma got closer to Bra. She wanted to hug her daughter to try and comfort her, but was afraid she might hurt her further. "Hunny… why would you do such a thing?"

"I just… needed to. You don't need to understand mom… I just needed to."

Bulma furrowed her brow slightly. Bra was right, she certainly didn't understand.

"Please don't be mad at daddy." Bra said, expressing more concern about that then about the state she was in.

Bulma frowned. "Let's get you cleaned up. You'll feel better after a shower and a change of clothes."

Bra nodded, and with a bit of help from Goten, unlatched from him. She stood up straight, and tried to take a step towards her mother, but her legs faltered, and she fell forward. Goten and Bulma both quickly grabbed a hold of her to stop her from falling over. Goten saw Bulma shake her head, and though much of her initial anger had faded, Goten could tell she was still livid. Bulma wrapped herself around Bra to help support her weight as the two made for the bathroom.

"Thank you Goten." Bulma said, smiling slightly to Goten. Goten nodded.

* * *

><p>Goten was back in the car, driving it back home before he instant transmitted back to capsule corp. He kept replaying the earlier events in his mind trying to make sense of them. The first instant he'd seen Bra once the Gravity Room's doors had opened was etched into his mind, and it was horrifying. He hadn't been that furious or upset since he was 7. That image and those feelings had completely forced out any of the feelings he had had earlier about his break up with Valese. He felt angry with himself as well at having not gone back to Capsule Corp earlier, when he could have stopped that scene from playing out. He knew Bra would be fine - She was tough; her father's daughter, but still. Seeing her like that…<p>

He sighed, trying to push that image from his head. He'd have to wait until she felt better to ask her what had made her crazy enough to do something like that. He knew Bra would be okay now. Bulma was pretty much the world's leading authority on Saiyan physiology after all, but he still wanted to get back to Capsule Corp quickly.

Goten was so wrapped up in his thoughts he almost missed the turn off to his house. He slammed on the car brakes hard. He had to quickly pull back though as any harder and he likely would have caused the brake pedal to snap off.

After having parked the car perfectly parallel with the edge of the gravel driveway (less he upset his mother), Goten stepped out of the car, taking in the crisp but cool spring mountain air. The air up here always felt cleaner and clearer. It was definitely colder up at this altitude though, and he found himself shivering nearly constantly. The coldness put haste into his step as he hurried towards the door to his home.

He had no sooner entered his home, and taken a step inward then he heard his mother's voice from the kitchen.

"Goten Son! If you don't get those shoes off this instant, I'll let you have it!"

Goten cringed slightly fearing both the potential outcome of those words, but also how she instinctively knew he hadn't taken his shoes off. He hadn't even thought about it himself. He quickly stepped back to the doorway and took his shoes off, placing them beside his father's and mother's. As he did so, he saw another pair of shoes. They were black dress shoes, and Goten immediately knew who's they were.

"Gohan!" Goten yelled, running into the kitchen. Gohan always seemed to bring out that bit of little kid Goten still had left in him.

Gohan was sitting at the table with Goku and Chi-Chi, a kettle of tea between the three cups each of them had. There was a fourth empty cup at the empty seat at the table, as if they had been expecting him. Well duh, of course they had been expecting him, Goten thought. Nothing got by his dad's finely tuned senses. The three were looking up at him, smiles across all their faces. There warm smiles almost made Goten forget his worrying for a moment as he took a seat at the table.

"Hey Goten!" his father said to him cheerfully and smiling. Goten returned the smile.

"Hey Squirt!" Gohan replied, smirking slightly at Goten. He knew Goten wasn't fond of that name, and hadn't been since he was 12. He saw Goten roll his eyes at him before speaking.

"You really need to stop calling me that Gohan."

"Why would I do that?"

"Cause I'm taller then you now."

A short chuckle came from Goku.

"Good point." Gohan replied, mirroring his father's chuckle.

"So what were you guys talking about?" Goten asked, filling his cup from the kettle at the center of the table. They didn't say it, but Goten knew he had been the subject of conversation before he got there.

"Just how proud we are of you Goten." Chi-Chi said. Goten could almost see a tear in her eye.

"Huh? Why guys?"

"Well you're about to graduate from West University with honours." His mother spoke. She recalled how worried she'd been about Goten when he was a child. He was good hearted, free spirited and strong like his father, but it had seemed he'd been born without whatever it was of Gohan's that had made Gohan so intelligent. Luckily some of that had actually made its way into Goten, it just needed to hit maturity before manifesting.

"Oh mom…" Goten said, sighing slightly, but smiling.

"We wanted to do something special for you Goten." Gohan began. "So me and dad were thinking we could take a trip somewhere for a week or two after exams are done. Just the three of us"

"Wow really!" Goten said, his excitement reminding those at the table of his childhood self. But who could blame him. The most Goten had seen of Gohan lately had been when Goten would stop by his office at the university. That didn't happen very often with how busy Gohan was. "That'd be great! Where are we gonna go?"

"Well you get to pick Goten." Gohan replied. He could see Goten's eyes practically glaze over as he no doubt thought about thousands of places they could go. "You don't need to decide right now though Goten."

Goten quickly focused back in on the kitchen, stopping his mental replay of all his favorite spots.

"You're sure you're okay to take that time off work right Gohan?" Chi-Chi asked.

"Yea don't worry mom, I've got my slaves." Gohan said amused, clearly referring to the students working under him. "They can hold down the fort for a week or two without me."

The four continued making small talk as Goten told them about the shenanigans him and Trunks were getting up to. He didn't bring up Valese at the moment because, as much as he was enjoying this family time, he felt obligated to get back to Capsule Corp quickly. Bulma would take good care of Bra, but he still wanted to get back there.

As his mother was clearing away the cups and kettle, Goten and Gohan moved towards the main exit of the house, saying goodbye to their parents. Once they were outside the house, Goten spoke again. He had been considering going to see Gohan to ask him about this, but since Gohan was already here, it seemed the perfect opportunity.

"Hey Gohan…"

"Yea little brother?" Gohan asked.

"You don't have any senzu beans lying around do you?" While a somewhat odd question, Goten was aware that Gohan had been experimenting on the seemingly mystical qualities of the plants.

Gohan smirked slightly, his voice slightly chastising as he spoke. "Senzu beans aren't exactly the type of thing you just leave lying around Goten."

Gohan saw his brother's hopeful look fade and become somewhat downtrodden.

"But," Gohan continued, causing Goten to perk right back up. "I do have two back at the lab. I'm really trying to figure out how they work."

"How's that going?"

Gohan sighed, shaking his head. "Not well at all. I just can't find a scientific explanation for how they work, even taking into account ki and ambient energy.. but why do you ask?"

"Do you think I could have one?"

"What for Goten?"

Goten shifted his wait uncomfortably, unsure how to explain what happened tonight. When Goten didn't answer and merely continued to fidget, Gohan spoke again.

"Well tell you what. I'll give you it, and we'll just say you owe me one alright?"

Goten smiled. "Thanks Gohan."

* * *

><p>Goten Instant Transmitted back to Capsule Corp, apparating in the living room, giving off a light gust that disturbed a few books and papers that had been on the coffee table. He had an almost triumphant oomph to his step as he made for the stairs to go to Bra's room, tossing the senzu bean up and snatching it from the air repeatedly. Bra would be back to normal in a hurry with this.<p>

As he started up the stairs though, he saw Bra's door open and Bulma step out.

"Hey there Goten." She said quietly after having reached Goten

"How is she?" Goten asked nodding towards Bra's bedroom door.

"She's better. Out like a light though. I don't think she'll be waking up anytime soon." Bulma's look of concern mated with one of confusion as she continued to speak. "It's the strangest thing though, she has a look of total content and peace on her face."

"Hm…" Goten replied thinking. She must have meant it when she said she needed that, but that still didn't get rid of the anger he had towards Vegeta. "Well I had something for her, but I guess it can wait until morning."

"That'd probably be best."

"Do you want me to stay with her in case she wakes up?"

"No that's fine Goten." Bulma said appreciatively. "I'll stay with her."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"Well would it be okay if you and Trunks stay in the B Building tonight? I don't think she'll be easily woken up, but just in case. I know it doesn't have.."

"That's fine." Goten said. Bulma nodded before moving back towards Bra's bedroom. As she reached it she paused for a moment and turned back to Goten.

"Oh, Goten, one more thing."

"Hm?"

"If you and Trunks see Vegeta before I do, punch him in the face, would you?"

"Heh" Goten responded nervously, unsure if she was serious. "I'll try."

* * *

><p>Goten and Trunks were sitting on the couch in the primary living room of the Capsule Corp B Dormitory. Goten had intercepted Trunks as Trunks was pulling into the garage, and quickly led him from building A to here, promising to tell him why once they were here.<p>

"Well Goten, how come we're over here?" Trunks said with some irritation. Though the B dormitory was as well-equipped as the A dormitory, his room certainly wasn't in the B building.

"Well, your mom asked us to stay over here." Goten knew that would be a horribly inadequate explanation for Trunks, but he still wasn't sure what he was going to say, so he wanted to buy any time possible.

Trunks paused, expecting Goten to continue. When Goten didn't Trunks spoke again, the irritation in his voice increasing further. "Why Goten?"

Goten exhaled deeply. "Because she didn't want us to wake up Bra."

Trunks scoffed incredulously as he stood up. "That's it? The little princess needs her sleep so we have to stay over here? That's bullshit. I'm going over there." Trunks said, quickly making for the doorway. Goten hurried over faster though, quickly putting out his arms and fully blocking the exit.

"What the hell Goten?" Trunks said, a slightly shocked look on his face.

"It's not that." Goten shook his head. "She's hurt pretty badly, your mom wanted to make sure she got as much sleep as possible."

"Hurt?" Trunks said skeptically, considering Goten. Sure his sister wasn't nearly as strong as himself or Goten, but he couldn't imagine a way she could have actually been injured.

"Yea. She was training with your dad and…"

Trunks shook his head again. There's no way his dad would hurt his sister, so he felt quite confident that her claims of injury were extremely exaggerated at best, and flat out lies at worst. Bra was a bit of a drama queen after all. "That's it? What did she do, break a nail trying to punch him or something?" Trunks let out a laugh, expecting Goten to mirror him, but Goten's expression remained serious and rigid. In fact Trunks actually detected anger in it. Anger that was being directed at him. Once he realized this, he quickly stopped laughing.

"I'm serious Trunks. She's hurt pretty bad."

"No shit…" Trunks said slowly. Had his dad really let his sister have it? He always thought his sister deserved a bit of a beating; it only seemed fair really. But now hearing it, he found himself getting angry at his father; she was still his little sister after all, and he knew it was part of the unwritten rules that he was supposed to protect her.

"How bad are we talking here Goten…" Trunks found himself asking, still hoping it was really just a cut or some bruises. But as Goten went on, in particularly gruesome detail (Goten's way of pushing Trunks' guilt at having been so dismissive earlier), Trunks found himself repelled and disgusted with his father and with himself. When Goten concluded, Trunks still had difficulty believing he really heard what he just had. His sister had always been that pristine, pretty, girly girl and he really couldn't imagine her beat up like that, especially by Vegeta.

Goten could see the rage brooding behind Trunks' now cold blue eyes, and in the slight quaking in his arms. Goten had known Trunks long enough to quickly pick up when he was angry. Goten himself felt his earlier rage boiling back up after having explained to Trunks what Vegeta had done to her.

"Where did Vegeta go?" Trunks asked, the eerie calm of his tone, and the use of his father's first name was unnerving.

"I don't know." Goten replied. He had a pretty good idea what Trunks was thinking, and Goten was absolutely with him. Goten had considered doing this himself once he was sure Bra was okay.

"Then we're going to go find him." Trunks stated firmly, his face void but his eyes failing to hide his rage. He really didn't care about that fact that he and Goten were liable to join his sister after this.


	5. Confrontation

Vegeta stood alone overlooking the restless ocean as it was swept up by the wind and thick black clouds that were rolling in. His arms were crossed firmly across his chest as he stood there motionless. The only movement was the sweeping back of his hair in the wind and the splaying grass patches that thinned as they dared towards the edge of the cliff on which Vegeta stood.

He was considering the course of actions he had taken tonight. He wasn't one for regret, but that did not rid him of the guilt he felt at what he had done to Bra. Perhaps he had been overzealous in living up to the promise he made to her to take the fight she was desperate for seriously. Her resolve had surprised him, and no matter how hard he hit her or what he did, she would not back down. The most surprising thing Vegeta found was that he actually had to exert himself against her. Although Bra sometimes came to training with fierce determination, he had expected tonight's match to go much as their "training" matches usually did; she would try to hit him a few times, throw an energy blast or two, then declare the whole thing a waste of her time before threatening to blow up the gravity room if he didn't take her shopping. (the last time she had done this, Vegeta had been so thoroughly frustrated he called her a disappointment. Though he had only meant as a warrior, she seemed to take it of an assessment of her whole.). But that was not the way things had unfolded tonight. She had met him with a steely resolve that matched his own and that had thrown him off balance. Maybe he had gauged her incorrectly though and had gone too hard on her. She certainly looked as though he had, and he found himself cringing slightly as he recalled her charred and damaged flesh. She would be fine in a few days - her Saiyan genetics ensured that - but it did not lessen the impact of having seen her in such a state.

However, he knew that sometimes Saiyans, even female ones, needed a fight to a painful and bloody end; till they could barely walk, and were ready to drop into a heap from exhaustion. He hadn't asked what had driven her to that point and he found himself wondering if he should have. It's not that he didn't care what was upsetting her, but rather letting her take out her frustration and anger first had felt healthier in his view.

As Vegeta continued thinking, his senses quickly picked up two strong energy signals headed directly for him. The oscillations in their energy quickly revealed their intent and their anger, and Vegeta turned himself to face them. He knew it was Trunks and Goten, and he knew why they had come looking for him, much as he knew they would. While he was reasonably certain he could appease them to the point of avoiding this confrontation, he didn't really want to. Fighting would help clear his head. If they intended to fight him together, Vegeta was quite certain they would win unless he used Super Saiyan 3 against them. The thought of doing that didn't seem particularly appealing to him though - Perhaps a long bloody fight would be the best thing right now. If he got the worse of it, so be it. It was only fair.

"There!" Trunks yelled loudly. His voice was being stifled and muffled by the wind that whipped past him, so he wanted to make sure Goten, who was just behind him heard him. Though it was dark here – even the cloud cover did little to extend West City's light out this far - they'd picked out Vegeta's location quickly by following his energy. Trunks could tell his father was expecting this confrontation and was not trying to hide from it. His father was in a deserted area some 500 miles southeast of West City. It was obvious he had chosen this location for a reason – that reason being it would serve as a perfect battlefield for avoiding collateral damage. Trunks had considered letting Goten simply Instant Transmit them to this location, but decided he'd rather use the small amount of time their flight had afforded them to carefully consider what he was going to do. Although he was no longer on the verge of being blinded by his rage, he still had every intention of trying his hardest to leave his father in as bad a state as his sister. Even though he knew he and Goten had no hope against a Super Saiyan 3, he was determined to try.

Trunks had considered using the fusion dance – they'd easily overpower his father like that, but he was fearful that merging with Goten would taint his fury and his satisfaction with the fight. Additionally the two hadn't performed the fusion dance since their early teens. After that point they were able to put up reasonably good fights against the elder Saiyans solo so it had become unnecessary. It'd be pretty anti climatic and wounding to his pride if they messed it up and had their asses kicked even while fused.

Trunks slowed slightly as he pulled much of the energy cushion he rode on out from under himself causing him to drop rapidly out of the air. Goten followed suit, just a few feet behind Trunks. The two touched down some 15 feet from Vegeta, turning hardened stares to him.

"Dad." Trunks stated coldly, as if trying to separate himself from the fact that Vegeta was his father.

"Trunks." Vegeta replied firmly.

The neutral tone Vegeta replied with was enough to set Trunks off. "How could you do that to her dad!" Trunks demanded, raising an accusing hand towards Vegeta.

Vegeta shook his head disapprovingly. "I thought you would understand Trunks."

Trunks' face constricted slightly. "Understand? What the hell was I supposed to understand! If I understood, why in the fuck would I come looking for you?"

"It's because you understood that you should have come looking for me." Vegeta sighed. "Your sister is more like you and I then you or your mother realize. Tell me Trunks, how many times have you come to me, desperate for a fight? Not a training match, not a sparring match but a brutal, full on fight that that one over there could not give you." Vegeta pointed past Trunks to Goten.

Trunks' mouth opened to reply, but he found his voice empty.

"I'll tell you how many times Trunks. 103. Why is it so shocking that your sister would come to me for the same?"

"She's not like us Dad. She would usually come to me and Goten to.."

"To what? Coddle her like a fragile little child? She isn't. The sooner you realize that, the better. She came to me because she knew I would not treat her like a child."

"Did you see what you did to her?" Goten demanded stepping up beside Trunks. Vegeta's look became a piercing stare as he focused in on Goten, feeling some animosity at the boy's daring to interrupt his and Trunks' conversation.

"Yes I did. I'm not blind. You think I _**enjoyed**_ doing that to her?" Vegeta asked, anger and vice thick on his voice. "I didn't. If anyone else had asked me to do that for them I would have declined."

"For them!" Goten said incredulously. He was about to throw a sentence full of vulgar insults at Vegeta, but he found himself pausing, recalling what Bulma had said earlier. _"It's the strangest thing though, she has a look of total content and peace on her face."_

"Yes. Whether your diminutive brain comprehends it or not, I did it for her. It is a Saiyan biological imperative to fight. We don't fight merely because we like to, we fight because we _have_ to. Denying this side much as Bra does only serves to build up the rage and unrest. A simple trigger can set them off, much as what happened to Bra. You two forget that because you're always fighting. I did what I had to too her because she _needed_ it - her Saiyan side demanded it -not because I wanted to do it."

Vegeta's response left the two boys in silence as they considered his words. Surprisingly, they found his explanation made sense; it almost seemed pleasing and admirable to their Saiyan sides. Despite the satisfaction of his explanation however, it did little to extinguish their rage.

"I can't just let this go dad." Trunks said. Though his voice was not as cold as before, it was still deathly serious.

"I know Trunks." Vegeta replied, uncrossing his arms before lowering himself, his left foot sliding back and bracing against the ground. "I'm not asking you to." He concluded. An instant later, and a tight constricting of his body, and a bright golden light flooded the area matching the colour his hair had faded to. A further tensing pushed Vegeta's aura out further. The energy was intense enough to ionize the surrounding air, causing electric arcs to discharge across his aura, sending a crackling static noise to mix in with the increasingly strong wind. His hair fanned out further, driven apart by the energy flowing through it into many distinct locks.

"_I guess this makes 104"_ Trunks thought, mirroring his father's early movement. Though his Super Saiyan 1 transformation was as fast and seamless as his fathers, it took him slightly longer to make the push to Super Saiyan 2. The electrical arcing from Trunks' aura was slightly more intense than Vegeta's, as Trunks was not as skilled at keeping his energy contained as Vegeta was. Trunks heard another set of clenched muscles and electrical arcs as he looked behind him to see Goten had likewise gone to Super Saiyan 2. The area was almost blindingly bright as the three pulled their Auras back. Wasting energy to put on a light show was terrible battle technique after all. Mastery of a Super Saiyan form required that level of control over their ambient energy output, and by the time the three had finished, the area was nearly as dark as it had been before. Their skin, which had looked deathly pale moments ago from the energy that dwelled at its surface, had darkened to its normal tone.

Goten stepped up to Trunks' side and the two nodded to each other. The two had an almost instinctual sense of what the other was going to do when they fought as a team. Their timings and movements were so tight and complimentary it almost seemed they were sharing the same thought process. This made sense given how much time the boys spent together both in and out of battle.

Vegeta was well aware of their symbiotic battling which is why he knew this was going to be a tough fight despite the fact he was more powerful as a Super Saiyan 2 then either of the boys separately. The nod the two exchanged was an unspoken symbol of them getting into sync with one another.

Trunks blurred out of Vegeta's vision as Goten rushed him from the front, ripping a clean path through the rocky ground below. With Trunks out of sight, Vegeta needed to use his energy senses to keep track of Trunks. It was obvious the two were trying to pincer attack him from both sides, splitting his focus and defenses, but Vegeta would have none of that. With a blurring motion, he expelled a powerful wave of energy from his body that had the desired effect. Both Trunks and Goten were forced back and had to stop their advances.

Vegeta's energy wave temporarily flooded and dulled both his vision and energy senses. With his senses blinded, Vegeta was unable to see Trunks and Goten move together, placing their hands between each other into a spherical shape. The two channeled and merged their energies together, using their hands to focus the energy. They mirrored their other energy changing techniques; the Kamehameha for Goten and the Big Tree Cannon for Trunks to form the swirling mass of energy.

When Vegeta's vision returned he recoiled slightly, but quickly regained his composure and pulled his hands back. He had considered a rapid fire attack, but with the amount of energy they had already charged, anything but a charged ki blast would merely be drawn into and absorbed by their attack. He was uncertain how much energy they were intending to charge, and with that unknown he couldn't risk using Final Flash. With two of them, the Big Bang wouldn't be terribly effective, so Vegeta found himself turning to an old standard; Galick Gun.

The Blue-Green light of Goten and Trunks' combined attack began to battle against the purple light of Vegeta's Galick Gun, a prelude to the full on energy struggle that was about to follow. Though Vegeta couldn't see it, Trunks and Goten exchanged an amused grin, as this was exactly what they had hoped Vegeta would do.

Just as the energy sphere between their hands began to quake and loose its surface tension – a sure sign it was about to overflow- they both pushed their hands forward in unison, a mirrored yell exchanged between them as their hands guided the pool of energy, flaying it outwards as it erupted into a massive wall of energy. Vegeta knew the energy he had gathered would not be sufficient to overcome their energy blast initially – they had got the jump on him after all – but he was quite confident he could use his superior power level to overwhelm their attack over the course of the energy struggle. So he matched their draw out of their energy pool, pushing out the brilliant purple sphere to meet their attack. The two attacks slammed together, a violent eruption of sound and light emanating from their point of contact followed quickly by a wave of force. The wave was forceful enough to obliterate what was left of the cliff the three had begun their confrontation on. When it hit the water, it was with so much force and pressure the surface of the water was temporarily solidified, pushing the water below it away before breaking against, and revealing the ocean floor below.

As the three were caught amidst their energy struggle, Goten looked to Trunks who answered Goten's unspoken question with a nod. Although Instant Transmission usually required the user to use their index and middle fingers to tune into a target's energy, with Vegeta so close and expelling so much energy, Goten did not need any assistance locking onto his energy. Still, he needed to be careful he didn't misjudge direction or somehow let the massive energy struggle taking place scramble his jump.

Goten pulled his hands out of the combined energy attack, taking a small, but sizable portion of the energy with him. He was sure to leave Trunks enough excess energy to hold off Vegeta's galick gun for the few second he would need to turn the current energy sphere into a Super Kamehameha. Once Goten had backed away from Trunks slightly, he found his senses were clear enough to get a good reading on Vegeta alone. He considered simply charging the attack and firing from this vantage point, but he realized it would be far too easy for Vegeta to simply expand the size of the Galick Gun and block it. As the realization dawned in Goten's mind, he realized he could play it off to his advantage. Vegeta was unaware of Goten's recently acquired knowledge of Instant Transmission, but even if he wasn't, this type of distractionary tactic had worked against Goku, so Goten felt confident it would work against Vegeta as well. Goten pulled his hands back, mirroring the technique he had performed countless times over the years, and using the orb he had pulled from his and Trunk's combined attack as a starting point. He watched carefully, ensuring Trunks still had a reservoir of energy to keep Vegeta's attack back. As Goten's attack began to reach the type of power he wanted, the blue light of the attack had caught Vegeta's attention. He watched as Goten moved his hands forward to launch the Kamehameha wave, pushing out the wall of his Galick Gun to ensure it caught the Kamehameha as well. As he did so however, he saw Goten vanish both from his vision and from his energy senses.

In what Vegeta knew was far too fast for a simple rush, he felt Goten's energy behind him, in addition to the Kamehameha he had now clasped between his hands, fully charged and ready to release. Vegeta recognized that technique and found himself mentally cursing Goku as Goten unleashed the Kamehameha directly behind him; it had to be Goku who taught his youngest the Instant Kamehameha.

Vegeta flared up his energy, what little he could muster that wasn't going to combat the energy wave in front of him. It impeded Goten's Kamehameha wave, but only temporarily. There was a sound akin to shattering glass as Goten's attack penetrated through Vegeta's Ki barrier.

To Trunks' amazement, his father's Galick Gun hadn't receded or stopped despite being hammered from behind by Goten's Kamehameha. Still, he could sense the wavers in his father's energy – a clear sign that Goten's attack was most definitely having an effect – and could see the size of Vegeta's attack lessening. Seeing this as an opportunity, Trunks began to spin himself, launching himself out of the path of his father's attack, but pulling the energy of his own attack with him. He felt the heat and flood of purple light as the Galick Gun rushed passed him, just narrowly missing his backside. He continued through with the spin however, the energy being towed along with him before pushing his hands forward in a Kamehameha like fashion. The energy, though trailing slightly behind Trunks' motions, quickly followed him before bowing to the direction imposed by his extended hands. The energy launched itself once more at Vegeta, this time unimpeded by the Galick Gun. The wave slammed into Vegeta who became the focal point between Goten and Trunks' attacks.

It took all the strength Vegeta could muster – he had to nearly tap into Super Saiyan 3 to find the strength – but Vegeta was able to eject himself from the focal point of the blasts after several excruciatingly painful seconds. He barely had time to catch a breath before the waves shimmered out of existence, negating one another and casting the destroyed plateau back into darkness. Nearly as quickly, Trunks and Goten were back on him.

Although their speed was easy within his capacity to block, the combined attack frequency of 8 blurring limbs was no easy feat to deal with. Vegeta found he could scarcely get in a punch against them as as soon as he targeted one, he lost his ability to defend properly against the other. Their attack patterns were always complimentary; when one attacked high, the other would attack low, when one lead left, the other would lead right. This lead to assaults upon him from every conceivable angle. Even when he did find flaws in the way they attacked, he rarely had a chance to exploit it before they'd switch it up, leading to a new pattern that needed to be analyzed for weakness. Amidst it all though, Vegeta found himself smirking.

Goten and Trunks were attacking Vegeta with every conceivable permutation of attack patterns they knew ( and several they improvised on the spot) but it took Vegeta only moments to adapt to them and begin to find flaws and openings to attack them. One slip up from Goten during a punch had resulted in himself and Trunks' arms colliding against one another, momentarily breaking their attack pattern. That was all the time Vegeta needed to send the heads of the two boys slamming into one another, momentarily dazing the two boys. Vegeta used this brief reprieve to blast Trunks away from Goten, separating the two. In his dazed state Trunks rode the ki blast long enough for the full fury of Vegeta's attacks to rain down upon Goten.

Goten knew he was doing well against Vegeta's onslaught – he was faring much better than he had the last time he'd fought Vegeta solo – but that confidence boost did little to soften the impact of the blows Vegeta was able to sneak past his defenses. A particularly brutal hit on his face sent a crunching sound echoing through his skull – the sound of his nose giving way to Vegeta's fist. He felt the flood of blood as it gushed from his broken nose and drenched his lower face in that warm sickly wetness. But his mind and body were far too caught up in his continued defense to pay that feeling much mind.

The tide of the battle shifted once more to the boys favor as Trunks rejoined Goten.

* * *

><p>Goku stood looking out the window of his and Chi-Chis bedroom, the only light being that of the few dim LEDs of electronics in the bedroom. Much to Chi-Chi's disapproval, Gohan had insisted on spending some of his salary on upgrading his parent's home to a more "modern" standard. Although the little lights that adorned such modern conveniences had initially bothered Goku, he found them almost comforting now. They reminded him that everything in life really was a matter of energy, even the seemingly "magical" things these devices were capable of doing. The light they provided was ample enough for his Saiyan eyes to resolve the layout of the bedroom.<p>

A bright flash redrew his attention outside and was followed by a rumble and a powerful breeze that blew back his hair slightly and parted the curtains on either side of the window. A storm was brewing, and not a completely natural one at that. He could feel the powerful energies fighting some distance away. The energy they were expelling was aggravating the already volatile weather that had rolled in from the ocean. He exhaled heavily, his face somewhat serious as he considered whether or not to intervene in the ongoing fight.

He was not one to intervene in the training matches between Vegeta and Trunks, but with his own son involved, and the limited restraint their energies were showing, Goku was strongly considering stopping the fight. He hesitated though. The seriousness with which they were fighting suggested that even if he wanted to, Goku may not be able to stop the fight short of physically restraining both sides. He had a feeling whatever had sparked this confrontation could only be resolved this way.

Another flash flooded his vision, followed by the low rumble. The wind gusts were becoming more frequent and powerful.

"Mmmm.." Chi-Chi moaned softly, having reached over and not felt her husband there. She sat up slightly, quickly seeing her husband looking out the bedroom's large window. "Is something wrong Goku?"

"No…" Goku said slowly, forcing a smile on his face before turning back to his wife. He wasn't sure how well she could see his face in the dimness of their room, but better safe than sorry. If she sensed something was wrong, she'd quickly get the truth from him. Knowing Goten was involved in a fight against Vegeta would almost certainly result in her sending Goku to intervene. "Everything's fine hun. Just a storm brewing."

"mm then come back to bed."

Goku nodded, quickly obliging his wife. He'd just have to trust his instincts on this one.

* * *

><p>Goten and Trunks had their hands locked around each other's wrist for support. Both occasionally found their energy faltering, and without the other for support, they likely would have dropped out of the air. They were following just behind Vegeta as the three headed back to Capsule Corp. All of them were only just remaining air borne, being completely drained of energy and covered in visible indicators of the earlier fight. Vegeta being his usual self had refused to accept leverage from the two, and was constantly faltering mid-flight while the two boys remained relatively stable with the other to compensate when they faltered.<p>

Goten had considered simply Instant Transmitting the three back to Capsule Corp, but his father had driven home the dangers of using Instant Transmission while low on energy, especially without a strong target energy signature.

Goten wiped away the blood still trickling from his nose, looking with a slight frown as it dyed his hand red. His nose had refused to stop bleeding since Vegeta had hit it. It wasn't that it was any more painful than the rest of his injuries, but he didn't like getting his blood all over his training clothes. He looked to his left to see Trunks had his free arm held fast against his side, nursing an injury as well. Though his muscles and body ached with pain, Goten had to admit he felt better. That's not to say he forgave Vegeta, but his anger had been subdued and channeled, leaving him feeling somewhat content.

A few minutes later the three had touched down outside of Capsule Corp, stumbling slightly as they hit the ground, legs somewhat wobbly. The three had hoped to quickly break, Trunks and Goten to the B Dormitory, Vegeta to wherever he often went at night. Their primary reason for doing so was to avoid being caught by Bulma. But no sooner had they landed then Bulma had practically burst out the front doors of the house, fuming as she approached the three.

Trunks' instincts told him to run - He may have been drained, but he could easily still escape her wrath. However, the piercing look his mother was giving seemed to be paralyzing him in place. A quick glance to Goten revealed it was doing the same to him as well.

She was silent as she reached the three, looking between them as if hoping it would reveal something unspoken to her. As uncharacteristic as it was for Trunks to see, Vegeta's normally hard look had a thick undertone of apprehension. That only served to unnerve Trunks further, and after several tense seconds, he could restrain speaking no longer.

"Mom, wha…"

"Quiet Trunks." Bulma quickly interrupted, her venomous tone quickly silencing him. She exhaled in exasperation before throwing her hands up, as if in defeat. In spite of her outrage at them having given her so much more to worry about, at having beat the hell out of each other, she found she actually wasn't surprised by their actions. "You Saiyans are impossible." She focused hard on the two boys. "Trunks, Goten clean yourselves up and go to bed." She stated firmly, pointing to the B building. Before either had the chance to ask, she quickly added. "Bra will be fine. Now go."

Trunks and Goten nodded before quickly following Bulma's demands.

Once she saw they had entered the B dormitory, she turned her attention back to her husband. Though he was giving her his usual indifferent look, the slightest hint of a scowl, she knew she had him on edge.

"Vegeta…" she shook her head. "I'm trying so hard to understand. Trunks, Goten – I can understand how you three could get into a fight leaving the three of you looking the way you do… but Bra? How could you do something like that to her? She's just a little.."

"Stop." Vegeta stated firmly, not allowing her to finish her sentence.

"Excuse me?" Bulma said indignantly, sarcasm and menace mixed in to her tone. She placed her left hand on her hip in an attempt to convey her seriousness. She looked him over, seeing if there was some wound she could potentially use to inflict pain on him.

"She isn't a little girl." Vegeta said forcefully, hoping his strong tone would establish the fact more clearly. If tonight confirmed anything to him, it was this fact.

"She's only 17!"

"An adult by Saiyan standards."

"Oh, so what, you're some kind of expert now Vegeta?" Bulma countered, heavy sarcasm in her voice.

"No." Vegeta stated coldly. "But believe it or not woman, I do have some idea about what Saiyans need."

"She's only half for Kame's sake!"

"A fact which everyone else seems to forget. What happened tonight had to happen. Her frustration and anger demanded it. Some problems just can't be worked out in peaceful human ways."

"What could she have possibly been so frustrated and angry about?"

"I didn't ask."

"What!" Bulma said in disbelief. "So you practically beat our daughter into a coma without even knowing why?"

"The why doesn't matter!" Vegeta returned. "What matters is that she needed it. If she wanted to tell me why, she would have, and after taking out all her aggression and rage tonight, she may be ready to say why."

Bulma looked at her husband, a mixture of emotions running across her face. She couldn't shake the words her daughter had spoken to her earlier: _"I just… needed to. You don't need to understand mom… I just needed to." _

Had he really just talked her into accepting that he had beat their daughter senseless? Something about that still seemed extremely wrong, and yet, she couldn't argue with much of what Vegeta had said. Bulma had to admit she often did forget Bra was as much her father as she was her. Thinking about it more clearly, Bra's need to act out in what were very typical Saiyan ways shouldn't have shocked her. Still, Bulma wasn't completely satisfied.

"Did you have to do _that _to her? Couldn't you have been easier on her?"

"I tried." Vegeta crossed his arms. "I did everything I could to get her to back down, to call the fight over, but she wouldn't. I suspect whatever set her off was compounded by her traditional refusal to obey her Saiyan instincts and needs."

Bulma was still trying to find her husband the bad guy, the target of ridicule in all this, but no amount of mental gymnastics allowed her to bypass the seeming truths he had said moments earlier. She felt it unsettling that she almost found it _ok_ what he had done to Bra. In any normal family this would have been a totally repulsive and heinous action, but as she was often reminded, her family was not a normal one. But she wouldn't have it any other way; as much as Vegeta had complicated her life, she really did love the bastard. She let out a satisfied sigh.

"Okay Vegeta. But I'm telling you this. Until she is 100% better, you will be her bitch and do everything she asks."

"Isn't that the usual arrangement?" He replied smirking.

Bulma looked at Vegeta slightly shocked. Had he just made a joke?


	6. Morning After

Morning After

"Man I wish I could hear what your mom is saying to Vegeta." Goten said, curiously peering out the second floor window of Trunks' makeshift room. He could just see the two arguing, and though his sensitive hearing could catch words through the thick glass when they raised their voices, it was not nearly enough to piece together the actual conversation. "I bet she's letting him have it." He added, finding a small smile on his face at that idea.

"I wouldn't be so sure Goten. My dad's learned how to be quite the diplomat with her. And I mean... he talked us down."

"Yea I guess, didn't stop us from beating him down though." Goten said with an accomplished smirk, pulling himself away from the window and taking a seat on the nearby couch.

"Heh, I don't think we're much better off than him Goten." Trunks said rubbing a somewhat swollen lump on the side of his head from where Vegeta had smashed the two boy's heads together. "I gotta ask though Goten. What the hell is your head made of? Feels like I'm going to have a headache for the rest of my life."

Goten started laughing, but the laugh quickly turned into a groaning as he keeled over from the sharp pain laughing had caused in his sides. Trunks smirked, rolling his eyes slightly at Goten. As he continued to watch Goten groan, he noticed that blood was still trickling out of Goten's nose, exasperated by his earlier laughing and his current forward leaning. Trunks stood up from where he was sitting and walked towards his friend.

Goten narrowed his eyes slightly as he watched Trunks approach him. "What are you doing Trunks?" Goten inquired, suspicious of Trunks' actions. Goten found his right hand instinctively rise to his face, covering his nose, personifying that suspicion.

Trunks leaned down towards Goten from where he stood. "Come on Goten." Trunks said irritably, brushing aside the hand Goten was using to guard his nose. "I need to set that. That is, unless you'd rather have a deformed nose to go with the rest of your face." Trunks said, smirking slightly, hoping to break some of Goten's apprehension with a jest.

Goten frowned at Trunks, but allowed Trunks' hand to push his guarding hand aside. Goten was not looking forward to this. He tensed up slightly from the pain Trunks caused as Trunks grasped ahold of his nose lightly.

"You know what you're doing… right Trunks?" Goten said slowly. Trunks wasn't exactly the most gentle person around, and the few times Goten had had his nose set before (by his father or Gohan) it had hurt like hell.

"Yea, don't worry Goten. I've done this plenty of times." Trunks began, feeling Goten untense slightly. "Just hold still." With that, Trunks yanked hard on Goten's nose, pushing the cartilage and bone back into their proper place with a slight grinding noise. Doing so drew out a yelp of pain from Goten.

"Kame that hurts Trunks!" Goten said.

"Oh quiet you big baby." Trunk said, backing away from Goten with a slight roll of his eyes. "You're fine now."

Goten's nose was congested with blood for a few brief moments following Trunks' setting of his nose, once it had cleared, Goten found he could breathe correctly out of his nose again. Each inhalation through his nose caused a slight reverberation of pain, but nothing too significant. Goten raised a hand up to his face, grazing his nose slightly.

"Hey thanks Trunks…" Goten said somewhat impressed that Trunks knew how to do that correctly. Though he guessed it shouldn't have been that surprising. Trunks was probably constantly punched in the face by Vegeta.

"Yea no problem. I'm gonna go shower. Mom said the one downstairs is working again." Trunks narrowed his eyes at Goten. It was Goten who broke it last time after all. "Try not to break anything."

Goten merely grinned the Son grin, a hand moving to the back of his head to try and shrug off the look Trunks was giving him.

* * *

><p>Trunks and Goten were sitting on the couch of the B dormitory living room. The two had cleaned themselves up, tending to any major injury and washing off the dirt and grit from the night's early fight. They were still covered in bruises, marks and cuts, but those would be completely healed in a few days.<p>

Goten looked towards Trunks before asking "We're not really going to go to bed already are we Trunks?"

"Nah, I'm still way to wired from that fight." Trunks replied. He was a little surprised the Goten was actually _asking_ him if they were going to bed. When they were little, Trunks had always been the leader and would usually make decisions for the both of them. Now though, there wasn't a clear leader of the duo.

Goten nodded in agreement. Despite how tired and sore his body was, he was still very much awake. As he casually placed a hand on his leg, he felt a small object in one of his pockets. He shifted in his seat slightly as he fished a hand into his pocket to uncover the item's identity. It was the Senzu bean Gohan had given him earlier. For a moment, Goten considered eating it, but the thought quickly dissolved as he recalled that he had gotten it for Bra. Bra…

"I really hope Bra's going to be alright…" Goten said, more thinking aloud then talking to Trunks.

"She'll be fine Goten." Trunks said, forcing confidence into his voice. It's not that he didn't believe what he was saying, but he didn't want to convey his worry to Goten.

"I hope so." Goten replied flatly, exhaling deeply.

In an attempt to find a diversion from this topic, an idea suddenly crossed Trunks' mind. He said he was going to do this earlier, and this seemed like an opportune time. Goten would have a lot of difficulty running away or instant transmitting himself away from Trunks right now. And he was already softened up, which, if it came to it, would make Trunks job of beating him till he talked all the easier.

"So Goten…" Trunks began leadingly, looking to Goten with a serious look.

"Yea Trunks?" Goten asked, returning Trunks' serious look with one of curiosity.

"How was the date with Valese?"

Trunks saw Goten look away from him, breaking eye contact. Trunks knew what that meant – Goten was going to try and lie.

"It was…" Goten paused thinking about the correct way to phrase it. He didn't really feel like talking about Valese right now, especially when he'd had a hard time getting his mind of Bra, but he had a sneaking suspicion Trunks wasn't going to be happy with that. "Okay I guess." He concluded.

Goten's mind quickly looked for an exit, a way to get the attention off himself. But no sooner had he opened to mouth to ask Trunks how his date was, then Trunks was bearing down on him, a hand reaching for Goten's face. Goten was shocked for a moment at Trunk's actions, and before Goten had a chance to try and defend himself, Trunk's hand was under Goten's nose, palm facing up, applying just a slight amount of pressure to Goten's still tender nose. Goten attempted to wrestle himself out from under Trunks, but between Trunk's hand on his fragile nose and Trunk's other hands resisting any attempt Goten made to try and move away from Trunks, Goten realized Trunks had him caught. With his energy so low, and Trunks keeping his hands down, he had no chance to try and tune in an energy signal to instant transmit too. After Goten had stopped struggling beneath Trunks' hold, and their eyes had once more locked, both with serious looks, Trunks spoke.

"I swear to Kame Goten. You're going to tell me what's going on with you and Valese, or I'm breaking your nose again. And trust me, it won't be so easy to fix next time."

Goten's eyes burned back into Trunks' fiercely. Goten was furious that Trunks was going to this length to force him to talk. As their eyes continued battling though, Goten saw something. It was a look of resentment and hurt in the back of Trunks' eyes. Maybe Goten did owe him an explanation – Trunks was supposed to be his best friend after all. They didn't share everything, but they always shared the important things. Him breaking up with Valese – that was kind of a big deal. Kame knows Goten got mad at Trunks when Trunks kept important stuff from him.

Using what strength he could muster, Goten shoved Trunks off of him, knowing he would be unlikely to be able to do so again. As Trunks moved to reengage Goten, Goten spoke.

"Fine Trunks."

At those words, Trunks stopped he advance, considering Goten carefully. After a moment, Trunks backed away, and retook his original seat.

"We've been having a lot of problems – trust issues mainly… she thinks I'm keeping secrets from her."

"Well you kinda are." Trunks interrupted, but was quickly silenced by the look Goten gave him. He gestured for Goten to continue.

"Anyways, she seemed to get this crazy notion a while ago that I was cheating on her, which is fucking ridiculous. But I let it slide, as I have to admit I wasn't exactly the perfect boyfriend, and yea I was keeping other stuff from her. But that was about a month ago. Things seemed to be getting better, but tonight…" Goten shook his head.

"What happened tonight?" Trunks asked, having followed Goten's words with intense interest. Especially after hearing Goten swear. Goten hadn't taken on Trunks' relatively filthy mouth which made Goten's use of swear words much more impactful.

"I broke up with her."

"Really? Shit man… what did she do?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" Trunks asked, raising an eyebrow and tilting his head slightly.

"Yea. And that was the problem. I kept feeling like I had to force things, fake them almost." Goten shrugged. "The weird thing is I'm okay with it. I mean I still feel bad because she got pretty upset. But the fact that we're over, it really isn't bothering me like I thought it would."

"Huh.." Trunks replied. "You don't have some other girl lined up do you Goten?"

Goten exhaled in exasperation. "That's exactly what she said too." He frowned. "Why does everyone think that!"

"I was just kidding dude. Relax."

Goten rolled his eyes at Trunks. "Whatever. How was your date?"

"Good. Kendra's a fun girl. But I don't really see us getting serious"

"Why not?"

Trunks shrugged, though Goten had a good idea why not. It started with an "M" and ended with an "arron".

"Since you and Valese are over, what are you going to do now?" Trunks asked.

"I dunno. Honestly, I think it might be a good idea if I take a break from girls for a while." Goten sighed, leaning back against the couch as a smirk drew across his face. "You know, my dad is convinced girls are the reason I'm not a Super Saiyan 3 yet."

"Heh, my dad said pretty much the same thing. Well… he also added school, tv, video games, you, and basically anything that doesn't involve me training in a room for 12 plus hours a day."

"Typical Vegeta." Goten said with an amused grin. Trunks mirrored that look as he nodded in agreement. Vegeta needed to learn to relax a little more.

"Yea that's for sure. But I really need to make sure I heard you right. Are you _really_ off girls Goten?"

"I guess. I just need a break for a while I think."

"Goten Son, swearing off girls. I never thought I'd hear that" Trunks snickered at Goten. That idea did seem pretty outlandish to Trunks. Since Goten was about 13 years old, Trunks had trouble recalling anytime Goten didn't have a girl or girls around him. Truth was Trunks had been much the same way. Girls seemed drawn to them; whether it was the powerful vibe they gave off, the constant need for secrecy, their nearly flawless physiques, Goten's goofiness or Trunks' intelligence, or any other number of qualities, they generally had an easy time attracting girls. Their mothers had constantly cautioned them though. Letting others get too close to them was always a dangerous thing.

"Yea well it's only temporarily. Maybe that'll give you an actual shot with girls." Goten jabbed back at Trunks. He was tempted to bring up the fact that Trunks still hadn't gotten anywhere with Marron, while Goten had, albeit years ago. But he knew that'd be crossing the line so he kept the comment under wraps. Goten knew Trunks had a thing for Marron, but Trunks got really testy anytime she was brought up, which made it difficult for Goten to gauge exactly how much Trunks liked her. He also knew Marron was one of Bra's best friends, which undoubtedly made things complicated for Trunks.

"Yea yea Goten." Trunks said with a sneer.

"Are you going to see Kendra again?"

"Yea. Next week. Anyways Goten, let's go play a game or something. I still feel like blowing stuff up."

* * *

><p>Bra's eyes opened allowing them to be filled with the dark blues and purple of her room, illuminated by the morning sun that fell through her window. She closed her eyes – the bright light was irritating to her eyes. She opened her eyes again, slower this time, allowing them to adjust to the light. She attempted to sit up, but felt a powerful surge of pain from her abdomen quickly flooded her senses and she fell back down onto her bed, taking a few deep breaths to normalize her breathing<p>

For a moment, she couldn't recall what had caused her to feel such pain when she sat up, but the previous night's events quickly flooded back into her mind. She found herself frowning, but she was not nearly as tense or upset as she had been last night. She tried to sit up again; between clenched teeth and anticipation of the pain, she was able to do so. Once she was sitting upright, she continued to run through the previous night's events, frowning once more when Goten came into focus. However, before she had a chance to go on a mental tirade against him and herself, she caught sight of her father. He was in her desk chair, his head firmly laid against the back of her chair, fast asleep.

She couldn't restrain a smile as she looked at him, wondering if he'd been there the whole night, worrying about her. She had a suspicion he had been, but it was unlikely she'd ever know for sure. He'd undoubtedly deny it if she asked him. Still, she couldn't help smiling. He looked surprisingly peaceful as he slept, not able to make the required conscious effort to look permanently annoyed and displeased. A closer inspection revealed that he was covered in the marks of a fight beyond the one they had engaged in. Bra paused for a second before realizing who must have given them to him. A smile pulled across her lips as she sighed. With how she and Trunks had been drifting lately, she was somewhat surprised Trunks had stood up to their father on her behalf.

With a great deal of labored effort – sharp gasps for air from the pain moving caused – she was able to move herself over to the edge of the bed. Her legs in particular felt like they were on fire as her sheets dragged across her still raw and aching skin. She moved her feet over the edge of her bed, slowly sliding from the support of her bed onto her shaky and untrustworthy legs. She had to grab ahold of the end post of her bed to avoid falling over. After a few minutes of slowly relaxing weight off the endpost and onto her legs, her footing became sure and she let go of her bedpost, being careful to keep her balance. Now that she was standing upright, and not having to worry about her legs failing her, she was finally able to see the extent of the injuries on her legs. A deeply recessed and crimson red crevice ran along her right leg from her knee, past her thigh and almost up to her hips. It just missed slipping underneath her red underwear. The skin looked almost as though it had been singed right off causing her to cringe at the sight of it. Her left leg, while more bruised and marked up, didn't have any major injuries and felt significantly more steady and less painful then her right leg. After having stood on her legs for a minute or two – the time it took her to look herself over and to return her breathing to normal – the deep pulsating waves of pain from her legs had receded to a dull but continuous ache. Cautiously, she took a step. And then another. Though each step aggravated her already painful body, each step became easier; the pain more bearable.

Once she felt confident walking, Bra made her way over to her father. As she approached, she heard his deep rhythmic breathing more clearly. Though she couldn't say for sure, she thought she heard the slightest inkling of a snore amidst his breathing. _"How unbecoming for a prince" _she thought with a smirk.

Bra was actually surprised her movements hadn't woken her father. He was usually extremely sensitive to changes in his environment and energy even while asleep. He had called it a "necessity of survival" to be aware of your environment at all times, even while asleep. She recalled numerous instances where she had attempted to sneak out of the house once she was sure everyone was asleep, only to be greeted to her father blocking her path with a less than impressed frown on his face before he'd point her back to her room. That's not to say he didn't ever allow her to leave or anything silly like that, just that he always seemed to have a high level of awareness of what was going on around him, especially when it related to Bra. He was pretty protective over her.

She bent down so she was at his level. Curious, she waved a hand in front of his face, coming dangerously close to touching him. Still no reaction. He must have been pretty damn exhausted if he still wasn't reacting. She grinned slightly, realizing this would be an opportune time to hug her father, if only for the sake of embarrassing him. Vegeta very rarely let anyone hug him, even Bra, so the opportunity to do so without him putting up any sort of resistance was far too enticing to the Saiyan princess. She knew it'd be physically painful to do so (and it was) but she forced herself to do it anyways. She half tackled-half hugged him, nearly knocking them both out of her chair as she wrapped her arms around him tight, leaning against his steel-solid chest. For a moment she was left in silence before she heard a grumbling and felt him stirring in her arms as he woke. She shifted her face so she was looking up at him.

"Bra?" he began unsurely as his eyes focused in on his location. He was slightly confused at his surroundings before he recalled he had told Bulma he would look over Bra for the night, and he must therefore have been in Bra's room. He looked down to see his daughter hugging him tightly. Though it sent a mix of pain and uncomfortable tension through him, the look she was giving him quickly flushed away his hard stare, forcing him to exhale deeply to avoid smiling.

Bra could hear the irritation in his sigh, but she could also hear how forced it was. In fact, for a moment, she could have sworn he was about to return the gesture before his usual self got the better of him.

"Bra get off me." He stated firmly, but made no motion to remove himself from the hug. It took Bra several moments before she felt comfortable letting go of him. As she stepped back from him, he saw his eyes quickly looking her over, focus going to her injuries – the deep gash in her right leg in particular made him frown.

"I take it you're better." He stated. Not as a question, but more as a fact. Bra sighed, rolling her eyes slightly. Sometimes she really wished her father would just _ask_ her things instead of trying to use leading statements to draw out information. But of course he had to maintain his façade of indifference towards everyone. Truth was, Bra knew he wanted to ask her if she was okay, and all the usual fatherly stuff, but for reasons Vegeta and Bulma would only elude to, Vegeta had difficulty expressing emotions more complicated than "I'm hungry", "I'm right, you're wrong", or "I'm going to beat the shit out of you.". It seemed he was often unsure if or how to express them. And from what her mother said, he was _softer_ now than when she'd first met him. It was hard for Bra to imagine him being that much less emotional – at that point he might as well have been a wall with an emotional range like that.

"Yea daddy… still really sore. What happened to you though?" she said, gesturing towards his injuries. "Did Trunks finally get the better of you?" She grinned.

Vegeta scoffed at her implication. "He had Goku's youngest brat to help him." He spoke gruffly.

"Goten?" Bra said curiously, looking to her father. Goten usually went out of his way to avoid Vegeta, even more so to avoid confrontation with Vegeta, so it did seem slightly surprising. "Really?"

Bra paused as Vegeta's eyes focused on her intensely, narrowing slightly. She met his glare with one of her own, entering into a standoff with him. However, she was well aware that she wasn't going to win this, so after a few moments she dutifully broke eye contact before speaking.

"What?" she demanded, placing her hands on her hips to convey her seriousness, but wincing from the pain as she did so. Vegeta said nothing, standing up from her chair exhaling deeply. He shook his head before he made to exit her room.

As Bra saw him leaving, a thought bore its way into her mind. The thought was a desire to train with Vegeta again. She wasn't sure why the desire was resurfacing – Usually any need to train vanished after a single round with her father, and Kame knows her body was screaming at her about what a terrible idea it was – but she couldn't ignore it. She hurried over to him as he passed through her doorframe, placing a hand on his shoulder as a way of asking him to stop.

"Dad… can we train again soon?" She asked. She immediately felt him tense beneath her hand as he stopped dead in his tracks. Conflicting emotions crossed Vegeta's face as he kept his back to her. Vegeta was surprised at how well she seemed to be dealing with her injuries. He was shocked she still wanted to train after last night. Vegeta wasn't even sure how much he believed his own reasoning about what had happened last night. He hoped she was finally embracing her Saiyan side – it'd been something he'd been dyeing to see since she was a child – but he wasn't foolish enough to believe it was that simple. Something was motivating her to do this beyond a simple ancestral desire. But he decided that whatever her motives were though, they were hers to keep and reveal as she saw fit. If she wanted to train, he felt little desire to deny her – aside from the fear of hurting her. He'd be sure to go a little easier on her next time. Vegeta nodded, still keeping his back to her before speaking. "You know where to find me when you're ready." And with that he left her, a content smile on her face.

Once her father was gone, Bra returned her look back into her room, her eyes catching a glimpse of the glaring red digits of the alarm clock by her bed.

8:12

She'd need to hurry to get ready for school.

* * *

><p>Bra pulled a red tank top down over her head, careful to avoid dragging it across her forearms. She faltered a few times, causing a slight flare up of pain. At this point her body's pain had become more an annoyance then a debilitation. She nearly lost her balance as she finished slipping her top on – she still felt a little off centered. A cursory glance behind her showed the time once more<p>

8:36

Close. She'd have to hurry if she didn't want to risk missing the bus. With her speed clearly impaired, running to school wasn't a viable option if she wished to avoid being seen. That pretty much just left Trunks to drive her if she missed the bus. That didn't seem like a very appealing option at the moment, as he no doubt would grill her about last night. So she moved swiftly, sweeping up her backpack from the floor. She'd grab some fruit from the kitchen for breakfast. As she was picking up her backpack however, there was a knock from the door. Bra knew who it was – honestly she was surprised it taken this long for this person to come to her room. Bra took a deep breath before turning around to face her mother.

"Bra hunny, how are you feeling?" Bulma asked once Bra had acknowledged her. Bra felt a slight rise of irritation as her mother entered her room without asking, but after what her mother did last night, Bra had little recourse to complain about her irritation. Bra pushed a few wrinkles in her tank top out, allowing her hands to drape lightly across the small amount of midriff her top didn't cover.

"I'm fine mom." Bra stated firmly, meeting her mother's concerned look with a smile.

"Are you sure? You know you don't need to go to school…" Bulma began moving closer to her daughter to get a better look at her injuries. Bulma was surprised her daughter was up and moving around pretty much like a normal morning. Her injuries certainly looked better than last night, but they still looked painful. After what Vegeta said last night however, Bulma guessed she shouldn't have been surprised. Saiyans made it a point to shrug off near fatal injuries as minor annoyances, and as Vegeta had firmly reminded her, Bra was half Saiyan. Even so, Bra was still her little girl, and she couldn't shake the image of frailty that had developed over the years.

"I know mom. But I don't really feel like hanging around her all day by myself. Really, I'm fine. Just sore." Bra replied back, running a hand through her hair, making sure it was firmly being held back by her headband. Bra looked away from her mother for a moment – hoping her mother's look would soften. When it didn't, Bra sighed.

"What mom?"

"You sure you're alright?"

"Yes." Bra said, growing irritated at having to repeat herself. She moved past her mother towards her doorway. "I'm fine. But I gotta go"

As Bra was moving past however, she felt her mother place a hand on her shoulder. Bra stopped and turned to her mother curiously.

"Before you go, Goten said he wanted to talk to you."

"Goten…" Bra repeated with a frown. "He's up already? What does he want?" she asked, trying to keep the apprehension his name had caused her from entering her voice and tipping off her mother. She saw her mother's eyes narrow slightly.

"Yes…" Bulma said slowly and suspiciously. "He didn't say what it was about, just that it was important."

"Oh."

"Bra, what's going on? Does Goten have something to do with what happened last night?"

"No mom, don't be silly." Bra said with a forced laugh, mentally cursing her mother at putting this together. "But I really can't talk to him right now, or I'll be late."

"He did say it was important Bra. He can drive you to school if you're late."

"But mom –"

"I really think you need to talk to him Bra." Bulma stated firmly. Bra merely rolled her eyes before grudgingly making her way out of her room.

* * *

><p>As Bra neared the kitchen, she strongly considered whether she should actually listen to her mother. If she did dodge Goten, he would know – his energy sense would make sure of that – which would only make things more awkward. She couldn't shake the paranoia that Goten already <em>knew<em> what had set her off last night.

Her stomach grumbled slightly, clearly conveying its opinion on what she should do. She sighed. _"Let's just get this over with_" She thought, mentally psyching herself up, and ensuring her breathing was under control. With the uncertainty her new found feelings for Goten were giving her, she decided the best option would be to just try and _act normal_ around Goten. She was good at acting as she knew how far acting around others could get you and what it helped you hide from others - things she'd learned from her mother – but acting around Goten would be difficult.

She stepped into the kitchen to see Goten was indeed there, hunkered over a massive bowl of milk, cereal and fruit. He looked up to her, quickly finishing his current mouthful before flashing a smile at her. Bra wasn't sure if she just imagined it or if he really did shift awkwardly in his seat when he saw her.

Against her better judgment, she returned the smile as she took a few more steps into the kitchen.

"Hey B-Chan!" he said happily. Though she cringed internally at the name, she kept her smile up.

"Hey Goten…" as she got closer to him, her smile faltered. His injuries were much clearer now as she looked him over. Though not as bad as her or her father, he looked in pretty rough shape. Her concentration was broken when he spoke again.

"Something wrong?"

"Huh?" Bra stalled, realizing she might have been looking at him a bit too intensely. "Are you alright Goten?"

"What? Yea I'm fine" he said dismissively. "I was a lot more worried about you… especially after how you were last night…" his smile faded, and she realized that he had been looking over her injuries since he first saw her. That must have been the source of his awkward shift in his chair. He must have been somewhat unnerved seeing her injuries more fully now then last night.

Bra scoffed. She found herself agitated that he was worrying so much about her - though she wasn't entirely sure if that irritation was her pride, or an attempt to distance herself from him and her feelings for him.

"I'm fine. Mom said you wanted to talk to me about something?" she asked, finally taking a seat across from him at the dining table. She wanted to end this conversation promptly before things got overly awkward. She could still catch the bus…

"Oh.. oh yea!" Goten said, his face reforming into a smile. She detected a hint of accomplishment in his face as he removed a hand from the table, plunging it into one of his pant pockets. Bra frowned slightly. Something in his pocket? That's what was soooo important?

A moment later, Goten's hand return onto the table as he reached that hand across the table, slowly opening his palm. Bra leaned in to see the object. It was small, dull and green.

"What is it?" she demanded, her irritation growing. What was so important about this?

"Right, I guess you've never seen one." Goten paused, shaking his palm slightly to move the object around. "It's a senzu bean." He said proudly.

"Senzu Bean…" she repeated, giving her mind the opportunity to tell her what a senzu bean was. She recalled her father and brother having talked about them. They were supposed to be able to be able to heal someone of almost any injury, and had been an essential part of the Z fighter's armory over the years. She also remembered the disgust her father displayed for them. He considered them a crutch – if you couldn't handle your injuries without some magical beans, then you weren't worth your weight as a fighter/warrior. He believed they bred reliance on them, and a weakness to pain and injury. As she recalled this, she found her own feelings to mirror those of her father. Why she couldn't exactly say, but it caused her to frown at the bean and at Goten for intending to use it to nurse himself back to health.

"So you thought it was important to show me some bean before you ate it?" she said rolling her eyes and crossing her arms to show her firmness.

"No…" Goten said, a look of confusion pulling across his usually relaxed features. "I got it for you."

"Me…" she said slowly, uncrossing her arms.

"Well yea… I was so worried and felt so bad after I saw what you were like last night, I went to my brother and managed to get one from him." Goten washed off his confusion and returned her dismissive look with a smile, hoping to see her mirror it. She didn't. He paused for a moment as he realized she actually looked insulted. He quickly ran over the last few minutes, attempting to see if he had infact done something to insult her. He drew a blank.

"So what," she began "You don't think I can handle my injuries and I need your help?"

"Well no, it's just – "

"I don't need or want your help Goten. I can fucking take care of myself." She stood up from the table quickly, knocking her chair to the ground as she did so. Her eyes bore down on him, burning into him. Part of her recoiled in horror at what she was doing, while part of her continued to push her through the tirade she had begun, relishing in the look of horror that was rapidly embracing his features.

"But I got it for you…" he said meekly.

"And I said I don't need it. You take it."

"Trust me bra, it'll help you feel better!" He said, likewise standing up from the table as his voice raised in volume. Though there was no anger in his tone and actions, there was force.

"Maybe I don't fucking want to feel better Goten. Did you ever think of that? Leave me the fuck alone." she stated before storming out of the kitchen, leaving a dumbfounded Goten in silence with his mouth agape.

* * *

><p>Bra was sitting in her usual bus seat, avoiding any of the numerous conversations going on around her as she kept her stare out the bus window. Her eyes were twitching slightly, and it was only with incredible mental and physical effort she was able to avoid letting tears come. She had brushed off the few questions that had come her way about her injuries as being "accidents". It didn't take long for those around her to get the message that she didn't want to talk to them.<p>

She was mentally cursing herself and her actions this morning. Goten was only trying to help, and she'd just exploded on him. She was sure Goten had some strong words for her after that scene, even if his personality wouldn't let him convey them. She wouldn't have been surprised if she'd fucked their friendship up royally with that scene – Goten had looked after her, made sure she was alright last night, and this morning had procured something extremely rare to try and make her feel better, and how did she say thanks? By basically telling him to fuck off and stop trying to be her friend. Maybe she was just a terrible person.

"Hey Bra.." someone said, loudly, drawing her attention (and her glare) towards them.

"What?" she said irritably.

"What's that on the back of your shirt?"

"Huh…" she said curiously, reaching a hand behind her and skimming across the back of her tank top. Her hand found something and she quickly pulled it off. It was a piece of rolled up piece paper that had been pinned to her back. She rolled her eyes as she unfolded it, figuring it was some dipshit on the bus who'd stuck it to her. As she unrolled the piece of paper though, a small green object dropped out of the paper and into her hand. The senzu bean.

"How did he…" she began, momentarily shocked. He must have somehow pinned it to her while she'd been waiting that minute for the bus. She turned to the piece of paper to see a small note had been quickly scribbled on it.

"_Hey B-Chan,_

_If I did something to upset you, I'm really sorry. Just tell me what it is and I'll try to make it better okay?_

_P.S. I know you said you didn't need it, but I attached the senzu bean. Just in case you change your mind."_

Bra smiled.

**A/N: I know nothing major has really happened in this story yet, but it will, I assure you. I just want to get the setup out of the way :)**

**Please R/R** **- Any constructive comments are appreciated**


	7. Goku and Lunex

Goku was drifting through the asteroid belt permeating the space between Mars and Jupiter. Long Days training in the vast openness of space had taught him how to hold his breath for hours at a time. He didn't really understand the science behind how that worked. Gohan had tried to explain it to him once, something about using ki as an oxygen replacement or something along those lines, but to Goku it didn't really matter how it worked. What mattered is that it did work. And thank kame for that.

Without space to train in, Super Saiyan 4 training was completely impractical. The slightest misstep, the slightest miscalculation in accuracy and even his weakest attacks risked splitting Earth in half. Sure he could train on other planets, but they wouldn't fare much better in wake of the unreal power of Super Saiyan 4. Goku still had trouble coming to grips with just how incredibly powerful Super Saiyan 4 made him. Each time he used it, he felt as powerful, as untouchable as when he unlocked Super Saiyan for the first time. Even so, he knew he couldn't be apathetic. Super Saiyan had seemed untouchable all those years ago as well, but there had been near constant reminders that Super Saiyan, no matter what level, never seemed to be enough. He almost wished he could be naive or conceited enough to believe he was the most powerful person in the universe, but everyone who ever made that claim always ended up eating their words, and he wouldn't be one of them. So long as there was room to improve, room to get stronger, he wouldn't stop.

He wasn't masochistic enough to train like Vegeta, but that didn't stop him making his way out here almost daily, constantly mixing up his Super Saiyan forms and routines. The lack of gravity had thrown him off at first, but at Gohan's advice, Goku had learned to use his ability to accelerate at a significant fraction of the speed of light (even in base form) to easily overcome that. While Goku was grateful for all the "sciency stuff" (as Goku so eloquently put it) Gohan was able to apply to fighting to help Goku get stronger, he still wished Gohan had kept up his training. Goku's youngest and Trunks were quite the scrappers and Goku loved fighting them - The two of them at Super Saiyan 2 were almost an even match for him at Super Saiyan 2, but their frequently unorthodox tactics and nearly flawless teamwork really kept Goku on his toes. Even so, Gohan was the only Saiyan who had ever REALLY surpassed Goku.

Maybe Trunks and Goten just needed more time. After all, they were far stronger then Goku was at that age, and Goku did have an extra 10 years over them versus Gohan. _"And hey"_ he thought _"they did manage to beat SS2 Vegeta last night, albeit just barely."_

Even Uub seemed to have mostly forgone his training, as he hadn't shown up at Goku's house for sparring in quite some time. Goku had a feeling that Uub had been greatly discouraged by his fight with Baby – his first real test as a warrior and he had failed. Goku decided that paying Uub a visit would be a good idea. He might just need a little encouragement. Every warrior failed sometimes. Kami knows he had.

Thinking about the younger fighters brought Goku's thoughts to Bra and Pan as well. The only two female Saiyans left. Pan was a natural born fighter, but even after sparring and fighting with himself and the rest of the Z-fighters for years, she was still nowhere near the level he thought she'd have been capable of. Even Bra, who Goku knew behaved much like a perfect storm of attitude between her mother and father and hardly ever trained, was stronger than Pan. He absolutely loved his granddaughter, but he really had hoped he'd get the chance to see a female super Saiyan out of sheer curiosity.

Goku hummed softly to himself as he continued thinking, moving past the previous thought stream. He was feeling like Super Saiyan 3 today. Goku somewhat lamented the demise of Super Saiyan 3. That form had taken him far more effort and time to master than any other super saiyan form. He'd only been training with super Saiyan 4 for a few months, and he was already almost as natural with it as he was with Super Saiyan 3. Super Saiyan 3 was now really only useful when Vegeta wanted to fight him. They both knew it was merely a show match. At any time Goku could go SS4 and end the match almost instantly, but in the name of good sportsmanship, Goku would stick to SS3. He had to admit Vegeta was getting pretty good with SS3.

That thought made Goku smirk. He wondered when the hell Vegeta was going to hurry up and get to SS4 so they could have real sparring matches. He was certain Vegeta had some genius master plan to do so, and Goku was looking forward to whenever Vegeta got that plan to work. In fact Goku wouldn't have been surprised if Vegeta's master plan included some crazy notion of a Super Saiyan 5 as well. Vegeta's mind always seemed to be two steps ahead of what he was currently capable of.

But Goku quickly dropped his thoughts, refocusing in on his physical surroundings. He paused for a moment to gather the necessary energy to go to Super Saiyan 3. He had done this so frequently, the only visible sign that the transformation was about to take place was a look of slight discomfort on Goku 's face. It took him barely a second to gather the energy to power past SS1 and 2 straight into 3, and in a tensing of muscles and a blinding flash, Goku stood amongst the meteor fragments, a full power Super Saiyan 3. So natural had the transformation become, even the smallest meteor fragments were only slightly disturbed from equilibrium by it. Goku recalled during his time mastering Super Saiyan 3, how he'd spent 3 whole days in the form. He recalled ChiChi constantly bickering at him about the ludicrous volume of his hair and even threatening to cut it off while he was sleeping if he stayed like that for too long. The thought made him chuckle. It'd been an empty threat after all. No scissors could hope to cut through his hair, but he'd still taken the threat to heart, promising not to be a Super Saiyan 3 for more than a day at a time.

He wasn't sure how ChiChi would react to him lauding about the house as a Super Saiyan 4 (something he intended to do at some point), but he hoped it would go better. His hair wasn't quite the spectacle Super Saiyan 3s was, and, properly dressed, he likely wouldn't stand out in a crowd. He had his doubts on going _that_ far with SS4 though. No matter how hard he tried, he hadn't been able to control and scale SS4's power back nearly enough to allow proper daily interaction with his friends and family, but he felt confident that was merely a matter of practice. If he could get the kind of control he wanted out of SS4, he could actually picture himself permanently staying in the form. But he decided it was time to get down to training and he turned his attention to the innumerable potential targets around him.

As Goku exerted himself, blasting and grinding the countless meteors that surrounded him to dust, he was blissfully unaware that his was being watched, his technique and power scrutinized. The watcher had been watching Goku for many years, first drawn to the Saiyan and the other Earth bound Saiyans when they achieved Super Saiyan. Though he had found their power laughable at that time compared with the Saiyans of old, he had been intrigued by Goku's seemingly exponential growth. From generations devoid of Super Saiyan, he alone had risen to the level of power the observer had expected from the Saiyans he had known in his time. For many millennia he had watched the Saiyans, attempting to piece together their fall from universal prominence and power. His gaze was long and wide, but could not reveal the unobserved past. Goku was but the third Saiyan his observations had seen achieve Super Saiyan 4 in the some 500,000 years he had been watching the Saiyans in the eastern galaxy.

Despite his long solitary vigil of the Saiyan race, and particular interest in Goku, the observer's influence had thus far been completely benevolent. Even if he wished to intervene and indulge his curiosities by physically meeting Goku, he could not - Though his sight spanned the galaxies, his physical body had long been trapped, tightly bound within his solitary prison.

His prison laid deep in the center of the western galaxy cluster; the opposite end of the universe from earth and the eastern galaxies. The western galaxy cluster was a group of some 6 major galaxies and several smaller satellite galaxies. These galaxies had long been forsaken and forgotten by most, having descended into chaos and anarchy following the death of the western Kaioshin some 5 million years ago at the hands of Majin Buu. The other galaxy clusters had thus far been spared a similar fate. Prevailing forces had brought order to the Northern and Southern galaxies - though the draconian and iron fisted rule of those bodies made their right to rule questionable at best.

The eastern galaxies were peaceful, and had been for many years. While Frieza's rule had certainly upset the balance, Frieza's influence had never extended past the southern half of the milky way galaxy. Though the observer had initially associated the survival of the Eastern Kaioshin with this peace and prosperity of the Eastern galaxies, he quickly came to realize that it was, in fact, the rise of powerful warriors that had kept those galaxies peaceful.

The observer had long since abandoned his watch of his own galaxy cluster, becoming disgusted and disgruntled with the senseless killing and destruction that pervaded it's every corner. Countless renegades, empires, and movements were engaged in perpetual conflict with one another over domination of the western galaxies.

In the midst of all this chaos, deep in the most remote and sterile region of the western galaxy cluster laid his physically bounded body. How long his body had been bound there, the observer could not say; time has little meaning when one has been condemned to eternal imprisonment. Time had only regained its meaning when the observer learned to pierce his prison, staring out from his eternal abyss into the physical universe. Even so, he was not sure how long it had been since his prison walls had ceased to contain his minds' eye. His best guess put it at some 15 million years. He was grateful for this small pittance of fortune, knowing his sanity would have long since left him had he not been able to occupy his mind watching the universe unfold and mastering knowledge of some of the universes' more subtle qualities. He longed for the day his body could rejoin the physical universe and he could apply his vast repertoire of gained knowledge to the real universe. He wondered how his body had held up over the years – he could not see his body, and when his minds' eye returned, it was only to blindness and to be physically restrained to the point of immovability. His body had developed certain hostilities towards his mind; a mixture of the rage his mind had refused to process towards his imprisoners, and a resentment of his mind's willingness to abandon his body. In truth, he had ceased to be one entity, one being, many years ago. Being trapped with the anger and resentment for so long had made the creation of this shadow-self inevitable. If he hadn't, his mind would have been lost to the pent up anger and hate his other half manifested itself from.

Although his wandering mind still exerted control, his shadow-self would not be silenced, and had continued to gain sway over his primary mind and body. Though the observer was aware of the spreading of his shadow-self, he remained confident he could control it.

Before his imprisonment, the Observer had been called Lunex, though that name no longer had meaning to him, he still found it convenient to refer to his primary self by that name. In his time, Lunex had been the Kai's greatest champion – a being with unimaginable power and skill even by Super Saiyan 4 standards. He was curious if his body had retained this level of strength throughout his long imprisonment.

But he digressed, returning his attention to Goku. Goku's technique was excellent – Lunex surmised this was primarily due to the fact that until his mid-20s, Goku's powers had been absolutely pitiful. He was forced to make due and learn to accomplish great feats with limited power, something that gave him much more control then his fellow Earth bound Saiyans, all of whom had been born with much greater power. They didn't earn it like Goku had. That's not to say Lunex found them uninteresting or unworthy of their power, but none intrigued him like Goku. Lunex had high hopes Goku's strength still had much room for growth, if only so Lunex could once more fight a worthy adversary.

Amidst his observations of Goku, he felt the most curious sensation. Although bewildered at first, Lunex realized the sensation was originating back as his body. It'd been so long, he'd almost forgot what physical sensation felt like, so for a few moments he was unsure what it meant. Upon realizing what it was, his mind dropped his observation of Goku, immediately snapping back to his physical body. When he returned, he saw something that made him gasp – starlight. Although hazy and distant, he had deep and fond memories of starlight, and there could be no mistaking what it was. Had his prison been breached? Although his initial reaction was that it was impossible, his mind quickly recalled that the strength of his prison bounds were currently far less than they had been eons ago when he was first imprisoned – maybe it had been weakened enough to allow an external influence to pierce it borders. Whatever the reason, there was no point in considering it further. If his eyes could see past the veil of his prison and into the universe, then it must be possible for him to escape his prison. His body was slow – ages of lethargy needed to be eroded before he learned to properly use his body again – but so powerful was his urge that his body had to obey and his bounds could not restrain him. Recalling ancient muscle memory, he fired a ki blast at the fading opening. It widened slightly, and Lunex found a slight smirk crossing his face for the first time in millions of years. He reached his still heavy arms through the opening. He would be free any second now…


	8. Vacation

**Vacation Part 1**

"Do you have everything Goten?" Chichi asked looking him over.

"Yea mom." Goten said with some irritation mixed in with his rapidly growing excitement. "You've asked me like 20 times. I got everything."

"I know, I know. You just know I worry."

Goten sighed. "I know mom." He smiled. "Everything will be fine. Trust me. Besides, me and dad will be a few seconds away tops."

Goten was glad to see much of his mother's concern vanish at his words. He knew the trip had some symbolic meaning; the beginning of a new stage in his life where his mother would be less involved and hands on. Where he'd branch out to make something of himself by himself. He knew it scared her – truth was it scared him too. Where did he go from here? Trunks' future was pretty much made and set already (if Trunks wanted it to be), but his own was much more uncertain. But Goten shook his head. This was far too heavy and deep to be thinking about right now. The next 2-3 weeks were to be spent with minimal thinking and worry, and he wanted to make sure he was in the proper mindset before leaving.

"When did Gohan say he'd be here?" Goten asked. His father was already ready – Goten could tell because he was napping on the couch – but Gohan's energy was still at the University.

"Shortly Goten, he had some paper work to deal with before he headed over."

Goten took a few hops up and down, keeping his excitement down. As he did so however, he felt Trunks energy rapidly approaching. Although surprised at first (Trunks had seemed just a _little_ angry that he wasn't coming on this trip when Goten told him a few days ago), Goten guessed he must have been here to see him off. Or at least that what Goten hoped. Goten made for his bedroom window to meet Trunks- it'd be faster than using the door after all – but a quick throw of ChiChi's voice stopped him.

"Goten Son! How many times do I have to tell you to use the damn door if you need to go outside? It's not just there for decoration you know." She scolded, reminding Goten of the numerous times she had reprimanded Goku's attempts to use the windows to get in and out of the house. He found his hand moving to the back of his head as he pulled his leg off the windowsill and back into his room. He grinned to his mother nervously.

ChiChi merely sighed as she looked at her son.

"Do try to not get in too much trouble while you're away will you Goten?"

"I'll do my best. I can't be worse than Pan." Goten replied, losing the nervousness from his grin. He saw his mother's features constrict slightly – he had reminded her that she would be looking after the teen titan after school while Videl was at work. Before she had a chance to speak further, he was already out of his room and bolting towards the front door of the house.

Goten skidded on the slightly moist grass of his yard as he attempted to stop himself before running into the just landed Trunks. He was able to do so, but only just. Another half a foot and he would have skidded right into Trunks.

"Well looks like someone's excited." Trunks smirked.

"Heh, you noticed huh?" Goten said grinning broadly as he stood upright from the position he had stopped in.

"Yea, it was pretty hard to tell though." Trunks replied with heavy sarcasm.

Goten continued smiling for several seconds before Trunks spoke gain, forcing Goten to take on a more serious look.

"So about the other day…" Trunks began.

"Yea, look Trunks, if this wasn't just a family thing…"

"Nah." Trunks interrupted, motioning for Goten to stop speaking. "I understand man. I totally overreacted. It's a family thing, I get that."

Goten grinned once more. "So you're apologizing?"

"Well… I don't know if I'd go that far…" Trunks returned Goten's grin. "But I was out of line. Anyways dude, have a good time."

"I will. Don't worry Trunks, I'll annoy you again as soon as I get back."

"You better."

* * *

><p>"Alright!" Goku said rubbing his hands together in front of himself, grinning broadly to Goten and Gohan. "Where are we headed Goten?"<p>

Goten grinned back up at his father. He'd been looking forward to this for weeks, and had thought long and hard about where the three would be taking their long overdue vacation. He had elected somewhere he himself had been only a handful of times, but that he knew held special significance for his brother and father. It was about the most remote place Goten could think of – well within reason of course.

"Namek." Goten said, watching as his father's expression switch from confused to excited.

* * *

><p>Lunex breathed in the namekian air, relishing in its purity and cleanliness. The green skies and oceans, and the sweeping blue grass were just as serene and captivating as they had been in his astral observations of the planet. The air felt invigorating and calming – any air would have been after millions of years in a sterile isolated prison – but this air in particular was a pleasure to breathe.<p>

It had been nearly three weeks since Lunex had escaped his ancient prison. The breach in the walls that had become his reality was courteous of a local turf war that had escalated into the void of his prison. A misplaced energy blast had created a tiny rift in his prison, but that was more than enough for Lunex to free himself. It seemed the outer walls of his prison had become incredibly degraded since their erection, no doubt due to the death of most of his imprisoners.

The two combatants in the turf war had quickly turned their aggression on him, but he disposed of them without the slightest bit of difficulty despite the lethargy and sluggish battle skills that had become deeply rooted within him. Lunex had considered ending the brutal conflicts in the western galaxy – it would be a great way to retrain his body and mind for battle – but it would also take several years to rebalance the galaxies. His curiosity in meeting the Saiyans of the eastern galaxies had seemed a more attractive option, and so Lunex had left the Western galaxies for the time being. He was thankful his body still knew how to "jump" – a technique he found similar to Goku's Instant Transmission, except faster and without the need to find a target ki signal. Combined with his still readily available ability to project his vision countless light years, most of the known universe had become within his ability to reach. He had paused briefly in the Northern Galaxy, laying siege to the ruling empire there. He had done so as he was disgusted with the oppression the empire laid upon its citizens, as well as a need to satisfy his shadow side, and retrain himself in some basic battle techniques.

Lunex was amazed how well his body had fared during his long imprisonment. Though it was difficult to gauge how his power compared to his previous self, much of his battle instincts, strength, and repertoire of techniques remained intact. His body still knew how to battle instinctually – albeit at a slower and less effective rate – and he still recalled the correct way to perform most of the techniques he had known. He had even started using the vast amount of knowledge he had gained during his imprisonment to develop new techniques and improve his old ones. Combining "jumping" with his wide vision was the only technique he felt confident with so far however.

Because of that technique, he now stood on Namek, a single jump from Earth, on the far side of the universe from his new origins. He was hesitant however; unsure if now was the proper time to make himself known to the Saiyans of earth. While he had no intention of fighting them (beyond perhaps a friendly spar with Goku), he knew well enough to account for as many scenarios as mentally possible. If a confrontation did occur, he was not yet convinced he could win against the Saiyans. He was confident he was significantly stronger than Goku, but without having seen Goku fight at his maximum in the better part of a year, there was always the off chance Goku's power had improved more than he accounted for. Additionally, the half dozen other Saiyans could be problematic – Vegeta and the fusion of Goten and Trunks in particular could certainly turn the tide in Goku's favor.

Lunex crossed his arms as he continued thinking, still breathing deeply and rhythmically. He would need several more weeks to restore his power back to the point of not being threatened by the Saiyans. Namek seemed an ideal place to use as a makeshift home. He could not go unnoticed training at full power here, but he was a mere three short jumps out from the galactic core of the Milky Way. As long as he was not careless, he could remain undetected as he trained there – the numerous super massive black holes, intense radiation and energy would provide an ideal veil, masking his energy signal. Additionally, the numerous dyeing stars and black holes would make ideal targets for practicing his energy techniques – so long as he didn't get carried away and destroy too many.

As Lunex prepared to take a more thorough scout of the planet and locate sites for a temporary residence, he was interrupted by his energy senses picking up the sudden appearance of 3 strong energy signals. Lunex was not left wondering their identity long – he senses quickly told him it was Goku and his two sons. With great haste, Lunex plummeted his energy as low as possible. He was unsure if the three Saiyans would have had time to discern his energy signal. It was possible – Goku was quick after all. He remained motionless for several moments, ready to jump should he detect their energy signals heading towards him. There sudden appearance made Lunex question if they had somehow sensed him all the way on Earth – that seemed unlikely, but he was unsure why else they would be here. Maybe he should have been keeping closer tabs on them – but he had been enjoying his freedom too much.

"Dad?" Goten asked, looking to his father curiously due to the sudden serious look his father acquired just a moment after the three had touched down on Namek.

Goku didn't answer, his serious look turning to a frown briefly as he scanned the landscape with his senses. He knew he felt… something. Something very powerful and out of place here on Namek, but no sooner had his senses picked up that energy then it had vanished. Even now, given time to focus and engage his full senses to the task, he could discern nothing out of the ordinary – a few moderate power levels in groups – no doubt namekian towns and cities – but no power levels that were out of place. Goku was pulled out his observation by a gentle hand placed on his shoulder by Gohan.

"Something wrong Dad?" Gohan asked, his look also having become quite serious.

"No…" Goku began. Though he knew for certain he felt what he did, it was gone now – and he didn't want to disturb this vacation before it even got started. He had been looking forward to this as much as his sons, He'd just be certain to be more vigilant then normal – in case the energy decided to make a reappearance. "Everything's fine." He concluded, dropping the slight frown in favour of the Son smile. "So what do you boys feel like doing first?

"Hm, well I suppose we should find a proper place to set up camp…" Gohan replied, scratching the side of his head lightly as he took in the landscape. It had been some time since his last visit here, but the world still look as serene and peaceful as he remembered.

"Gohannnn… that's boring." Goten objected, pouting slightly much as his childhood self would have. "Let's doing something fun first!"

"Well what would you suggest then little brother?" Gohan asked, quirking an eyebrow at Goten.

"Welllll…." Goten began. The glint in his eye clearly revealed he wasn't _just _thinking this up right now despite his attempts to make it appear so. "How about a training match Gohan?"

That seemed to pique Goku's interest as he focused solely on the conversation between his sons, temporarily neglecting his concern about that mysterious power level.

"Uhh…" Gohan began, slightly taken back. He supposed he shouldn't have been surprised – fighting was one of Goten's favorite things to do just like their father.

"What's the matter Gohan? Afraid you'll get beaten by your little brother?" Goten smirked as he taunted Gohan.

"Well…" Gohan began. It wasn't that he was necessarily afraid, but it had been years since he'd taken his training seriously. Gohan really only fought when he needed to, but Goten and his father fought because they truly seemed to enjoy it. Gohan knew years ago, he could have taken Goten without much difficulty, but he had no idea how he stacked up to his little brother now a days. It would be a bit embarrassing to lose to him.

"Goten, how about you give Gohan a little time to get back into the swing of things before you two start throwing fists?" Goku asked, sensing the hesitation of his eldest.

Goten frowned slightly. "Okay okay, I just really want to know if I'm stronger then you now Gohan."

"Well how about a rain check till next week squirt? Then we'll see." Gohan said to Goten with a grin.

"Okay Gohan. I'm going to win though - just so you know."

"Heh we'll see." Gohan mirrored Goten's wide grin.

"Hm… okay so no fighting… how about…" Goten paused as he looked around himself. He immediately caught site of the vast expanse of crystalline green water near where they had touched down. The reflection and sparkling of the namekian sun made it all the more enticing. "swimming then!" Goten said excitedly, barely waiting from acknowledgement from his brother and father before he was rushing towards the water's edge, his shirt and pants momentarily swept up in the wind from his speed as practically tore them off himself.

"It's almost like he's 10 again." Gohan said happily to his father as he watched his brother jumping into the deep green water with a spectacular splash before disappearing below its previously calm and undisturbed surface.

"Heh… I've missed this sort of thing." Goku replied.

"Me too dad. Me too." Gohan began, grinning for a moment. "Race you Dad!" he added before bolting off towards the water just like his little brother had.

"He.. Hey! No fair!" Goku protested, quickly following in Gohan's wake.


	9. Just Another Day

Lunex watched his reflection closely in the still, translucent green of the namekian ocean that swept out before him. He hadn't taken time previously to observe his physical condition or appearance, but now was as good a time as any. Though his memories of his exact appearance before his imprisonment had long since faded, his recollection of his species general appearance hadn't. He stood a solid 6 ½ feet. His skin was deathly pale - almost white – though that was almost certainly a result of being trapped in a lightness hell hole for eons. His overall body structure was not unlike saiyans/humans, but he had more protrusions of bone plating around the neck and leg area, which, in his natural state, made him look slightly more blocky and large then human/saiyan physiology. Each hand held 6 fingers total, 5 evenly spaced opposite the opposable thumbs. His arms and knuckles had small protrusions of bone branching from or extending past that of a traditional humanoid. The bones served to heighten the impact and pain inflicted by physical strikes and rendered assault against his species more painful to the opponent. The bones were intended to act as energy conduits, and relied on channeling excess energy from the body to remain rigid and hard. When energy was purposely withdrawn from these appendages, they became surprisingly malleable, able to be manipulated into various shapes. His legs, at their natural position, were slightly arced – it allowed him to liberate more force from his footing for defense and offense. His hair was short and pitch black in colour. Though slightly unkempt and long from his imprisonment, it still hung just half way to his shoulder. It was somewhat rigid and defiant of gravity, akin to Saiyans. His eyes were a piercing and cold green, blending into the green hued water almost perfectly. They conveyed a deep sense of wisom, hiding the loathing and hatred that brewed just beneath them. Physically, his eyes were composed of two nearly identical layers. This allowed his eyes to operate at distances both closer and further then even Saiyan eyes were capable of. His nose was far more shallow then that of a human or Saiyan. Although Lunex had a certain appreciation and fondness for the noses of other species, his also realized it was a major liability in battle. In truth, much of his species physiology had evolved to make them into more effective fighters, and there was no more prominent example then Lunex. Despite his rather large frame, he was highly aerodynamic and flexible, able to contort parts his body into varying sizes and at various angles

As he considered his appearance, it caused hesitation in his previous thought stream. Even with his pale skin and the visible signs of age, he was still an intimidating figure. That would make it more difficult to approach Goku and his sons without setting them on edge. He could certainly mask his energy, but was unsure if it'd be enough to fool them, especially if they had gotten a good read of his energy when they had first touched down on Namek. The last thing he needed was to be arousing their suspicion and scrutiny.

Even so, he'd been waiting to meet Goku for years, and now Goku was only a couple hundred kilometers away. The opportunity was extremely tempting, and were it not for a hard forged sense of patience and caution, he would have indulged his curiosity. But no. It was still too soon, things were too uncertain.

Since they hadn't pursued him, Lunex reasoned they were unlikely aware of his presence. If that was the case, then being this close did present interesting observation opportunities. Lunex had never been overly focused on the relationships between Goku and his family, but if they were here alone he could certainly get a good feel for how they interacted.

* * *

><p>"Ready Gohan?" Goten asked, a grin plastered to his face as he raised his hands in front of himself, assuming his opening stance. His hands seemed to clasp open and shut of their own accord; a physical showing of the anticipation he was feeling towards the imminent fight.<p>

"Heh, Let's see what you got squirt." Gohan replied, mirroring the youngest Son's grin as he moved himself into a nearly identical starting position; a position the two had come to favour thanks to their father. Gohan exhaled deeply, feeling an elevation in his heart rate as his body naturally readied itself to fight. He was somewhat impressed at just how eagerly his body had jumped back into serious training over the last week and a half despite having forgone so for years. It's not that he disliked training with his father and little brother, but other things in his life had simply become more important; his job, his daughter, his wife and of course time spent with his father and brother not training. He wondered if that would ever happen to his little brother.

Gohan shook his head, getting his mind back into the fight. He was feeling quite good about this fight; not to say he was certain he could win, but only that he had been itching for this match the last few days. He knew Goten was in this to win and would not be holding back, but that only made Gohan's own anticipation for this match greater. His smirk widened slightly as he considered that if Goten won, he really would have to stop calling him squirt.

Goku was overseeing the fight some 200 feet away, nearly as eager as the two combatants for the fight to start. Even his superior energy skills and fighting instincts were inadequate to reveal to him who would be the victor in this show match. The limitless potential of one against the vitality and will of the other

Even with his superior energy senses and fighting instincts, Goku had no idea which of his two sons would prove the stronger. It was hard to dispute the incredible potential Gohan had always had, but Goten had proven himself nearly as capable. Goku still had trouble believing Goten had gone Super Saiyan at only 6 years old. Goku wished he had been able to be there for that (truth was, if Goku had known about Goten, he might not have stayed in other world).

Gohan's strength during his fight with Buu had been incredible; Goku was unsure if even now, he could have fought equally with that Gohan without resorting to Super Saiyan 4. But Gohan had never been a fighter. He had natural talent sure, but unlike himself and Goten, Gohan had never demonstrated the true Saiyan fighting spirit; he wasn't a warrior. Goku was curious why this trait seemed to skip Gohan. That lack of drive had caused Gohan to mostly forgo training once buu was defeated, and while he was still very powerful, 15 years is a lot of time to give someone like Goten time to catch up to you. And so Goku returned his focus back to the fight, feeling the fluctuations in ki, signaling one of them was about to make the opening move.

Goten threw his hand, palm forward towards Gohan, firing off a small energy blast. He hoped it would distract Gohan long enough for Goten to penetrate through Gohan's defences. He smirked as Gohan effortlessly flicked away the energy blast. Satisfied that it wasn't going to be that easy. In fact before Goten could even attempt a follow up strike, he found himself forced to go on the defensive, raising his arms in front of this face, his forearms taking the brunt of Gohan's retaliatory strike. He pushed back against Gohan's strike, throwing his elder brother off balance just enough to sneak in two quick jabs against Gohan's side before backing off to avoid Gohan's return strike.

Goten weaved between several strikes as he attempted to put some distance between himself and Gohan. Though he was certainly getting better at instant transmission, he still needed time to lock on to a transmission spot, and while he remained this close to Gohan he certainly wasn't going to be given that time. Once out of immediate range of Gohan's fists and feet, Goten used a rapid series of energy blasts to keep the distance the two

Gohan sneered at his little brother. "Does Goten really think I don't know what he's trying to do?"

Once Goten was far enough away, he made the jump, Instant Transmitting behind his brother. Or at least what had been behind Gohan when Goten has started to his jump. Scarcely had Goten's senses retaken in the scene then Gohan's expectant fist blurred forward, colliding hard with Goten's jaw and sending him reeling back.

"You'll need to do better then that Goten." Gohan smirked, watching as Goten wiped away the small trickle of blood his strike had caused. "I've seen you and Dad do that way too many times."

"Heh, nice one Gohan. Don't worry though," Goten added, mischief glimmering in his dark eyes. "I've got plenty of techniques you've never seen before."

Goten resumed a fighting stance, having shrugged off any lingering injury from Gohan's strike.

* * *

><p>Bra was braced vertically up against the wall of the gravity room, sweat beading down her fine features and her muscles fully tensed expectantly – ready to react at her slightest incling. Her left leg was extended away from her body from when she had been driven against the wall, while her right leg was folded inward against her body – a useful thing if she needed to launch herself away from the wall quickly. Her right hand was palm flat against the cold steel, having been a necessity to stop herself a few moments ago. The heavy gravity and sweat forced the dark tank top and shorts she wore to cling tightly to her body, causing a sticky unpleasant feeling. However, her mind forced that feeling out – she couldn't afford any distractions right now as her senses rapidly attempted to reveal the location of her temporary opponent. Her eyes pierced through the haze generated as byproducts of the intense gravity and dim red glow that permeated the room – a veritable fog of war.<p>

"There!"

her mind screamed, her energy senses having detected the subtle fluctuations of an energetic body in the location her eyes were now locked on. Without any further thought, her hands, shrouded in white fingerless gloves, were raised, palms flat and forward as she fired a ki blast at the disruption she felt. She watched hopefully as it streaked away from her, throwing its yellow light against the red of the gravity room before it careened straight through and struck the far side of the gravity room. Before she actually saw it strike the far side however, a powerful application of force was delivered against her firm stomach, wrenching her breath away from her and dislodging her from her previous position against the wall. She was able to look to the site of the strike just in time to see a gloved hand smash into her face, sending her reeling through the thick, stale air of the gravity room. She flooded her immediate space with energy; just enough to stop her from crashing against the far side of the gravity room. She coasted against the wall, feet first, absorbing her remaining kinetic energy as her hands raised to mount a defense against the incoming follow up attack. To her surprise however, the follow up attack was absent. She daringly lowered her defense, taking a few breaths to try and feed her air starved lungs as she wiped away the small trickle of blood that had cascaded down her lip from where her opponent had struck her.

"Almost Bra." She heard her father's voice, still hovering at the spot where he had struck her. Though there was some chastising in his voice, he could not berate her.

4 weeks. That's how long the two had been engaging in this routine. While Bra still hadn't revealed exactly what brought on this radical new thirst for fighting, Vegeta had indulged her to the fullest, ready to teach and practice with her whenever she needed. He found it somewhat strange just how eager he was to meet her demands for fighting – he would rarely go out of his way to train with Trunks – but perhaps it was because she had never shown this level of dedication and earnest towards the longest and most entrenched part of her heritage. While initially Vegeta had been concerned about going too hard on her – a mixture of the memories of their first serious training match and a fear of frightening her away from fighting – most of that restraint had vanished.

In fact, some of that restraint had to vanish otherwise she would have actually injured him. Her growth in such a short time was nothing short of astounding. Vegeta wondered if this training mirrored Kakarot's training with Gohan in the hyperbolic time chamber all those years ago. Granted their certainly wasn't an urgency and need to their training other then what Bra forced into it, and Bra was no Super Saiyan, but seeing the astounding growth of someone who you always sensed had hidden strength – that much at least was the same. The female warrior Saiyans Vegeta had known had been almost as capable as male warriors, so the fact that Bra was showing astounding growth and skill like the other Saiyan hybrids had shouldn't have been overly surprising to Vegeta. Even so, it was – she was still his daughter, and in spite of what he'd said to Bulma, the image of her as a fragile innocent little girl was still deeply entrenched in him.

Vegeta didn't want to delude himself with delusions of grandeur at what Bra might be capable of doing, but his instincts told him that Super Saiyan was a very real possibility for her. The thought made him smirk slightly. That'd certainly show Kakarot and that granddaughter of his. But this wasn't about his rivalry with Goku, it was about his daughter.

Before he could continue his train of thought however, it was seemingly knocked from his head by a powerful strike to the side of his head – Bra's heel. With no attempt to defend, and the unexpectedness of the strike, Vegeta succumbed to the force, being knocked from where he hovered and to the ground of the gravity room. His impact against the ground sent a heavy reverberation through the gravity room's innermost structure, shaking loose a few small pieces of debris and filling the heavy air with the sound of flexing metal. Vegeta blurred from his location the moment he was able too as a moment later the Saiyan Princess' fist was flashing through that spot, a blur of the white of her gloves and the reddened tone of her skin. All the sweat along her arm was driven off by the haste of her strike, flinging itself into a puddle just below where her fist hovered above the partially mangled floor of the gravity room. She looked up to see her father looking down at her from the upper echelons of the gravity room. She smirked.

"No almost that time." She said proudly.

Vegeta shook his head "You missed me with your second hit." He stated flatly, dismissing her sense of accomplishment.

"Yea well…" she began, frowning slightly as she placed a hand on her hip before withdrawing several feet, allowing the floor to be fully presented to him. With her free hand she gestured towards the damaged area of the floor. "Look what my first hit did."

"Well, then you can explain to your mother why the Gravity Room needs to be fixed again." He replied, that Vegeta esque smirk gracing his face as he rendered her silent, furrowing her brow at him as she retook a battle stance. Vegeta considered her for another moment, satisfied at her reaction, before readying himself to reengage her.

The two burned intense stares at one another, both breathing deeply and methodically waiting for the other to make a move. The heavy air contained only the sound of the Gravity Machine whirring away to generate the intense gravitational fields surrounding the two combatants. Bra felt a bead of sweat begin to trace its way down her forehead, but she didn't dare attempt to wipe it away as that would give her father far too wide of an opening. However, the bead of sweat was daringly approaching her left eye as well. If it forced her to blink it away, that would leave her just as vulnerable as wiping it away. Rather than wait for it to generate a void in her defenses, she rushed at her father. It simply seemed the better option.

* * *

><p>Goten touched down just outside the front entrance of the Capsule Corp dormitory, slightly out of breath; he was still winded from the training session he had had with his brother and father this morning before the three ended their much enjoyed and far too short vacation. He had promised Trunks he would hang out with him the instant he got back. While he hadn't been 100% true to his word (he did have to unpack and shower after all – he was certain Trunks would appreciate him not showing up smelling of caked dirt and stale sweat), he was here now. He could sense Trunks was rapidly heading towards the front door, no doubt having sensed Goten was on approach. Goten had forgone Instant Transmitting in favor of letting the wind dry out his air. Well that, and sometimes it was nice to just fly. Leisurely flying was one of the most calming and relaxing experiences Goten knew of. Plus the flight had afforded him the chance to take in nature's full display – In those three weeks he had been gone, the land between his house and the outskirts of West City seemed to have come into full bloom, basking itself in the warm and sunny days. Goten always awaited the mid-spring bloom – as a child, it signaled the beginning of fun and free summers - and was abit disappointed he had missed it while away. If he had been more paranoid he might have thought nature had done it on purpose. But still it had put a smile on his face.<p>

Goten walked the few steps towards the front door, taking in the bloom in the Capsule Corp grounds. Though the trees and flower beds were exceptionally well kept, he didn't particularly like the artificial look grooming gave to them, especially compared to the land use he'd seen on his way here.

He made to ring the bell but before he had the chance, the door was excitedly pulled open by Trunks. It was a good thing Bulma reinforced all the door fixtures with the same metal as the gravity room or the front door likely would have been pulled right off its hinges by Trunks.

Before Goten had a chance to speak, he found himself pulled into an almost spine shattering hug by his best friend. Goten was a little taken aback – a mix of the pitiful amount of air was able to draw in and surprise at what Trunks had done. It's not that Trunks never hugged him, but it was unusual for Trunks to be so earnest about it. If Goten hadn't glanced a smile on Trunks' face before being crushed, Goten would have thought something terrible happened while he was gone. After several seconds Goten tapped Trunks on the shoulder, before using his remaining breath to speak.

"Dude..I can't breathe…" his voice high and fast. Trunks hold loosened as Goten's feet retouched the ground and his lungs desperately retook in oxygen. Trunks took a few steps back as Goten tried to catch his breathe.

"Man Trunks…" A deep breathe. "What was that about?"

Trunks shook his head. "It's been sooo boring and crappy here without you Goten. You have no idea."

"I was only gone three weeks Trunks."

"Way too long." Trunks replied firmly. Now that Goten thought about it that was probably the longest time the two had gone without being around one another. It's not that Trunks didn't have other friends, but he didn't have anyone else who could come even close to being a best friend.

"What have you been doing while I was gone?"

"Nothing." Trunks frowned. "I've barely been grounded or yelled at by mom or dad since you left."

Goten raised an eyebrow. "Really? That is so… not the Trunks way."

"I know!" Trunks raised his hands up in exasperation. "It's so much harder getting into trouble by myself."

"What about Bra? You two used to get into trouble together all the time"

Trunks shook his head. "That's another thing. I barely see her anymore."

"Huh?"

"Guess where she is right now Goten."

"Uhh…" Goten began, he checked his watch. 3:52. He did a quick sweep with his senses around Capsule Corp. Nope, she wasn't here. He raised a hand to the side of his head, scratching it as he thought.

"The mall?" Goten guessed. He knew it'd be wrong though – it was too obvious, and Trunks certainly wouldn't be bringing this up if she was at one of her usual spots.

"Nope."

"Marron's?" Another obvious guess.

"Nope."

"Hmmm…." Goten shrugged. "I got nothing."

"Try sensing around here again Goten." Trunks stated. "Harder this time."

"Alright…" Goten spoke, closing his eyes this time. With his eyes closed, it was much easier to pick up hidden or low energy signatures. He immediately let his vision drift towards the central Capsule Corp buildings, ascending and descending them rapidly. He picked up hundreds of energy signatures – Dr. Briefs, Bulma, scientists, technicians, security – but no Bra. He checked the B dormitory – nothing. Suddenly it dawned on him what Trunks had been leading to.

"No way…" he spoke softly. Though his eyes were closed, he still could tell Trunks nodded. His vision descended upon the gravity room. There's Vegeta… and Bra. Goten's eyes opened again.

"… what…" he said, raising a hand to his forehead to try and coax abit of the mental anguish he was experiencing. Why the hell was she back in their again?

"I know right?" Trunks stated. "I don't know if I just didn't notice it before you left, or if it just got more intense after you left, but I pretty much only see her out of there for school. She's been ignoring Marron and her other friends for weeks."

"What are they doing in there?"

"Beats me." Trunks stated with a shrug of his shoulders. "All I know is she's making me look bad. And Dad won't let me train with them." Trunks frowned. It made more sense to Goten now why Trunks had been so glad to see him back. Neither of the boys were terribly fond of training and sparring alone, and while Trunks could train with his father or amuse himself by causing mischief to, or with Bra, with her constantly with his father it really didn't leave a lot for Trunks to do around Capsule Corp.

Still though, Goten's brain felt on the verge of an aneurysm trying to understand Bra's motivations here. It just didn't make sense after the state she'd been in a few weeks ago. Why would she be fighting with Vegeta again.

"This has been going on for weeks?"

"Yea."

"She hasn't… you know..come out looking as bad as she did that night has she?"

Trunks shook his head. "I think Dad knows how to gauge her better now. Truthfully though – I'm worried about her. No one spends this much time with dad unless they have to. His explanations really don't cover her being this serious." Trunks frowned, furrowing his brow slightly as his mind ran through possible reasons for his sisters behavior. He had tried to confront her about it several times only to have her push him out of the way, or be aided by their father in escaping his questions. During the first week he'd noticed her continual absence from the dormitory and continual presence in the gravity room, he assumed it was something he or their mother had done to piss her off. But by the second week, he knew that couldn't be it. Sure his sister was hot headed and quick to anger – traits inherited from their parents – but she also moved past things quickly. Thus far, the best reason he could figure to her sudden change in behavior was some dickhead dumping her or hurting her emotionally or her and Marron "breaking up". But as far he knew, Bra hadn't found a guy she even considered interesting enough to date for more than a few weeks – not nearly enough time for serious feelings to develop (in fact, she always told him guys were pretty much just toys to her that she'd throw away when she got bored of them)– and Marron had expressed the same concern he'd been feeling over Bra's recent change, so those reasons weren't holding their ground well. "I wanted to ask you if you had any idea why she might be acting so much…. crazier than usual lately." Trunks said looking back to Goten. His question was not accusing nor leading, but it still seemed to cause guilt to enter Goten's face.

"I have no idea Trunks…" Goten said. It was true – he had no idea what was making her do this, though he certainly had noticed her acting more irregularly lately.

Trunks raised an eyebrow. Though he knew Goten wasn't lying – or at least it didn't seem like he was – he sensed there were things Goten wasn't saying. "Really Goten…" Trunks narrowed his eyes on Goten, causing Goten to take a step back. "You have no idea?"

"I really don't Trunks… why are you looking at me like that?"

"Because I know you're not telling me something." Trunks took a step forward, more than compensating for the distance Goten's step back had added. "Truth Goten?" Trunks stated seriously. "Is there something going on with you and my sister?" Trunks' mind was rapidly flooding with thoughts now that he seriously considered that idea. It would certainly explain why Goten had dumped Valese, and it would go a long way towards explaining Bra's behavior. He'd known for years his sister had a little girl crush on Goten, but with the age difference and that fact that Goten was his best friend and always busy with other girls, he had never seriously considered the possibility before. Now though…He clenched a fist as he tried to suppress the less then pleasant thoughts that followed after that one.

"I swear to Kame Trunks, nothing happened between me and her." Goten stated, his tone far more serious than normal. He stopped the slight backward tendency he had towards Trunks' menacing looks and stood up fully, looking Trunks dead in the eyes.

Trunks untensed, sighing in relief. "Sorry Goten. I've just been racking my brain trying to figure this out since she won't talk to me or mom. The idea of something happening between the two of you just seemed to fit with what's been going on lately… sorry to get all older brother on you." Trunks smiled.

"Heh..don't mention it." Goten said, still slightly unnerved by Trunks' actions. "But… you're right, I wasn't telling you everything."

"Oh?" Trunks asked.

"Well the morning after the big incident, I talked to her abit before she went to school."

"And?"

"Well… it wasn't so much us talking as it was her yelling at me."

"What did you do?"

Goten rolled his eyes. "Not everything is my fault you know."

"I know. Just most things."

Goten huffed as he crossed his arms. "Can I continue?"

Trunks motioned a hand indicating to him to continue.

"Well I offered her a sensu bean to get rid of her inuries..."

* * *

><p>As Goten entered into Trunks' room he immediately took note of the writing on the whiteboard that occupied much of the right side of Trunks' room.<p>

Ah the white board, bringing of pain and misery, destroyer of empires, bane of all life – that is, if you angered Goten and Trunks enough to use it against you. That whiteboard had played host to countless "revenge" schemes, "invention" ideas (though few had actually done what Goten and Trunks had planned them to do), and other nefarious activities Goten and Trunks had planned out over the years. Though its days of serving as the canvas for their unique art of war had largely faded after high school, Trunks still often filled it with ideas that were constantly running through his mind – a sure sign he was his mother's son. Now though, much of the board was dominated by what looked like a calendar. Goten looked it over more carefully, seeing 4 headings: May, June, July, August. "Yep, definitely a calendar."

"What's this Trunks?" Goten said, scrutinizing over the dates.

"That Goten" Trunks replied, stepping up beside Goten, and parting his arms wide to encompass the board. "Is our summer on a wall."

Goten looked to his best friend, an eyebrow raised. "…Seriously? Wow you really must have been bored."

"No really, I've got everything planned out, and quite perfectly if I say so myself."

Goten inadvertently rolled his eyes as he looked back to the whiteboard. "Why do you need to plan this whole summer out?"

"Because this is the last summer I have before mom declares war on my lifestyle."

Goten sighed, deciding he'd at least humor Trunks. "So what's the plan for today?"

Trunks merely grinned before pointing out a date on the whiteboard. Goten narrowed his eyes slightly at Trunks before following his outstretched hand and reading the words inside the box it pointed to.

"… You can't be serious."

Trunks grin widened even further, that childhood flame of mischief and mayhem unmistakable in his eyes. "Oh but I am."


End file.
